Recently we caught up with Astha Chowdhary who is playing the female lead in ‘Babul Ka Aangan Chutte Nah'. During a brief chat she talked about her new serial, career and future plans. Here are the excerpts.

Q: Tell us something about yourself.
A: I am originally from Alwar in Rajasthan and am here in Mumbai only for the last nine months.

Q: Did you come wot Mumbai to become an actress?
A: Yes, I was interested in acting always. Actually, I was studying engineering in Jaipur and though of trying my luck in this field.

Q: How did you got this serial?
A: I was called for the auditions, I appeared for it and I got the role. Initially, I was not keen to go for the auditions. It was my holiday when they called me up. I thought to give it a chance and here I am.

Q: So you can say it all happened by luck?
A: Not exactly. Before I got through, I had to undergo a couple of screen tests.

Q: Aastha, have you done any acting before?
A: Yes. I have done a small cameo in ‘Saat Phere' for 10-15 days where I played the role of Urmila. Then I played a role of Gunjan in ‘Rakhi'.

Q: Why did you choose to do this serial?
A: I always wanted to do a family program. When I heard the concept of this serial, I really loved it. It was a story of a sweet family girl with whom I can relate.

Q: What is the USP of this serial?
A: The relationship of daughter and father is the USP of this serial. The storyline is really outstanding.

Q: Don't you think that the channels are being flooded with melodramas these days?
A: Yes, they are. But I feel that if your content is good then people would love to watch it. The issues raised in this serial are something which happens with every girl in real life once she gets married. Everyone including the father, mother and daughter can relate with our serial.

Q: Were you always interested in acting?
A: Yes. As a kid I did a telefilm for DD channel. But I was so small then that it was beyond my level of understanding what is happening.

Q: So you are not new to acting?
A: Of course I am. According to me, I am and will always be a learner.

Q: The date of the serial's launch is drawing close. Are you not feeling scared or nervous?
A: I am really pretty scared and nervous. Our serial is replacing ‘Viruddh' which was a big serial. Also it feels good to play role the lead in my first major serial. Everyone's money and efforts have been put into this serial so I just pray to God that I would be able to live up to everybody's expectations.

Q: How was your first day at the shoot?
A: It was really good. Previously in ‘Rakhi' I was playing a very bubbly kinda girl whereas here I had to act like a very calm and composed girl. So I really had to take out that chirpy girl out of my mind to justify with the character.

Q: What is your final destination, films or serials?
A: I want to do only serials, no films. I come from a middle class family, so I don't want to disappoint my parents. I wanted to do a sweet role, nothing else. And now I am happy with my small screen.

Q: Anything interesting happened on the sets so far?
A: Recently I was made a ‘bakra' by the participants of ‘Champion Chalbaaz'. It was a very bad experience for me. Our director who is generally very calm suddenly started shouting at me. I was wondering what went wrong.

I cried like hell. I had no clue what was happening. And it was all being recorded. After seeing this people will think that I am so silly, which I am not.

Q: How is your tuning with producer (Ratna Sinha) and director (Maqbool Khan)?
A: They both are very sweet and cooperative.

Q: What is your current state of mind? A: I am very relieved right now. I am giving my 100%, rest all depends on the audience. I hope they like my work. -Saakshi Tiwari