She was known as Natasha once, but now prefers to be called Anita Hasanandani. She is also known as Ekta Kapoor's best friend.

And she is back on the small screen after a long hiatus, in Ekta's 'Kya Dil Mein Hain', a Bengali story. Anita plays Tapur, Kakun's elder sister, who runs away from home to be with her beloved. Kakun, played by Abigail, is the lead in this show. Does that mean Anita plays second fiddle to Abigail?

Anita dismisses this by saying, "I want to make one thing clear. I am not playing second lead. This is a cameo role, spanning 16 weeks." The serial goes on air on December 1, on 9X, and will be telecast on Fridays and Saturdays.

The actor will be seen in a lead role in another of Ekta's daily soaps, 'Kar Lo Sapne Poore', on Sony, from January. "I play Lali, someone with a little comic element in her character," says Anita of this show, and she is visibly excited about it.

Lali is from Rewadi Village of Haryana, and she comes to Mumbai to become a heroine. The show is about all the incidents that take place thereafter, which are quite funny, according to the actor.

Of Ekta, she says, "Ekta is like a sister, and Shobha aunty is like my mother. I can never think of leaving them and going away somewhere else."

That does not mean that Anita will not work with production houses other than Balaji. "My only desire is that my role, no matter who the producer is, be meaningful," she says.

So what was the reason for the break from television? Anita dispels all speculation by saying, "I wanted to spend some time with myself, and also with my family, and this was impossible when I was doing a daily soap."

She has already done Ekta's movie, 'Kuch Toh Hain', and will now be seen in the story 'Gubbare', with Rohit Roy and Nana Patekar, in Sanjay Gupta's 'Dus Kahaniyaan'.

It is the story of a newly-wed couple. This opens the door for her, to enter the world of Sanjay Gupta, or so she hopes. And she has no qualms about returning to the small screen. What is important to her, she adds, is that she gets to work in all media, and gets to spend time with her family.

Which is why she will say 'no' to a 'Bigg Boss', but will consider a 'Nach Baliye' or a 'Jhalak Dikhla Jaa', which she could not take up earlier, either as contestant or host. -Rajnee Gupta