•SURUCHI MAZUMDAR: Do you identify with Tulsi?

I grew up in a conservative family. Even today, we start our day with puja. So the so-called Virani culture of Kyunki... wasn’t alien to me. In fact, one day my father came to pick me up at the airport and I embarrassed him by touching his feet in full view of journalists and fans gathered there. It came naturally to me. So I was very comfortable playing Tulsi.

•SHAILAJA BAJPAI: Everything about the K serials is opulent. Is there a contradiction between the role you play on the screen and the causes of the poor you espouse as a politician?

Tulsi is actually a very simple character. She seldom wears jewellery or bright clothes. I try to keep my characters as simple as possible. I admit our characters do have an impact on audiences. So whenever I interact with fans, I tell them that it’s a celebrity’s real life and work that should be taken as an example, not the characters he portrays.

•LALITHA SRINIVASAN: Why don’t you tell your producers to tone down the greasepaint and gaudiness?

It’s not my place to dictate terms to producers. They know what’s best for their show.

•ALAKA SAHANI: Kyunki... has five generations of a family. Why do we need these generational changes—so many twists and turns, deaths, rebirths, 20-year leaps?

Frankly, I don’t know how many generations have gone by in the 10 months that I have been away! But I always wondered why we had these strategems until I became a producer. It’s always on the producer’s mind to bring in some novelty. Kya karein, twist chahiye, kuch nayapan chahiye (What can one do...we need twists, we need something new). You must understand that at every level in the industry, people have jobs to hold on to, targets to meet. TRPs (television rating points) rule the industry completely. That’s a sword hanging over everyone. If they feel that something will salvage a track, they just go for it. But the real problem is not these twists; the real vultures are the in-between termites and the advertisers who eat away creativity.

... contd.