For the first time in her career, Shoma Anand who had actually made her debut as a the leading lady opposite Rishi Kapoor 32 years back in Pramod Chakraborty's film ‘Barood' is playing a negative role on the small screen.

Though she has played characters with negative shades in several family socials made by the likes of directors like Bapaiah and Kalpataru, Shoma is glad that she has stepped into the shoes of senior actress Aroona Irani in the serial ‘Maayka' which is being produced by Dheeraj Kumar.

Shoma Anand does not mince words as she says, "I wanted to play a negative role in a serial because I have never played a negative role in any serial till date.

Besides being fed up of doing comedy roles, I was also quite bored of putting on the glycerin for my character in the serial ‘Bhabhi'. Luckily for me, the producers of ‘Bhabhi' have now made the Chopra family disappear. I enjoy playing the character of Durga in ‘Maayka' now"

In what way has her character undergone changes from the time Aroona was essaying it?

She replies, "Though Aroona had done a good job as Durga, I am told she could not continue playing the role because she is too busy with her three serials on air, not only as a producer but also as an actress.

I have my own style. Even my style of speaking with a Punjabi accent is different from Aroona's way of speaking the dialogues with a Gujarati accent."

Shoma admits that she had even asked the producers of ‘Bhabhi' to make the character of Reshma negative but they did not listen to her. "I was fed up of the same stereo-typed expression in episode after episode of ‘Bhabhi'.

Though I liked the emotional character of Reshma, it became too much, trying to project emotion in each and every episode. I wanted to do something different. I literally yearned to show my negative side.

Today the audiences need ‘mirch' because they feel that too much of sweet too is bad. What actually provoked me to take up negative roles on TV was the fact that even my in- laws had told me that I am too sweet to do negative roles.

I told my in- laws that I have taken it as a challenge to prove to them that I can tackle negative roes too with effortless ease".

Shoma confesses that she was happy with the accolades that she got for her performance in Ekta Kapoor's ‘Hum Paanch' in which she was teamed with Ashok Saraf.

"Success has not gone to the head of Vidya Balan who played my daughter in quite a few episodes of ‘Hum Paanch'. Even today Vidya continues to wish not only me on my birthday but also my husband as well as daughter on their birthdays."

Shoma says that it is unfortunate that the second season of ‘Hum Paanch' was not liked at all by the audiences. "Though ‘Hum Paanch' was liked by the audience when it went on air for the first time almost ten years ago, the new version was not appreciated.

‘Ek baar ban jaati hai' but the new generation could not relate to the new version of the serial. Also Kapil Kapoor who had directed the original series had walked out and Ekta had to ask two or three directors to direct the serial."

Shoma cites the example of her own daughter Sarah. "My daughter criticizes my performances. Though she liked me a lot in ‘Hum Paanch', she frankly told me that she did not want to watch me in ‘Bhabhi'.

Sarah is now studying in the tenth standard. Though I and my husband Tariq Shah are actors, Sarah does not want to be an actor. Instead Sarah prefers to be an astronaut".

Shoma speaks out her mind and doesn't hesitate in calling a spade a spade. "Today there is a dearth of comedies on television because there are hardly a few directors who have a sense of comedy or for that matter timing. Though I would not like to take names, I was petrified when some directors used to okay a scene even when it lacked the punch lines."

Shoma says that she has not accepted any serial other than ‘Maayka' because she is keen on working in films too.

Says Shoma, "In the last four years, I have acted in around 15 serials non stop. I feel that while serials automatically mean hard work, when I shoot for a film, I hardly shoot two or three scenes a day. I have decided to cut down on serials and concentrate on films.

Right now, I am acting in Neeraj Vohra's film ‘Dil Sacha Chehra Jhoota' in which I have been teamed with Paresh Rawal once again after ‘Hungama." -Jyothi Venkatesh