I always thought that I am not pretty: Ulka Gupta

Zee TV launched its recent offering Khelti Hai Zindagi Aankh Micholi (Essel Vision) from 9 September starring the beautiful Ulka Gupta. Ulka who plays Ami, a 14-year old girl whose life is flamboyant with her father around her. But things change drastically when her father Harsh (Vinay Jain), a victim of AIDS, passes away. Commenting on her character, Ulka avers, “My character is that of an average girl, who is in her adolescence. She is a chirpy girl but an average student…weak in maths and naughty and her father is her superhero. For her, it is only her father who understands her best! But then due to her father’s demise, she is left unescorted.” So how did the young actress, who was earlier seen in Jhansi ki Rani Laxmi Bai (JKRLB) (Zee TV) , decide to take up a role of a completely different genre? “Today, if I had to play a small role as a child artiste, this question would not have cropped up. All I can says is while Manu in JKRLB was a symbol of girl power and an inspiration for young women, Ami will be a reflection of every girl’s real self. I am just adding a variation to my talent as an actor and will try to do complete justice to my role.” Talking of her strengths and weaknesses, the 16-year old quips, “I face certain challenges while it comes to experimenting with characters. As a person I am a more matured person and now that I am an actor, the character I am portraying keeps building inside me.” “Since JKRLB required a matured character, I was very comfortable in it, but in this show, I am required to be like this kid who is extremely carefree and does not care what others think; she is insane and na?ve. Accordingly, I have started making these changes to my personality in real life too as it helps me build up on my acting strengths,” she adds. “Though I always thought that I am not that pretty; as a matter of fact, I still do. People think I have very expressive eyes and over a period of time even I have started noticing the same. So I can say that my eyes are the greatest strengths of mine,” Ulka observes. Commenting on how she is coping with her college schedules, Ulka claims that she has been managing it from the time she was in school. But currently, she is facing attendance issues for her board exams. “I am facing certain attendance issues but am sure that they will get sorted in due course of time. My college is trying to clear my documents so that I can take admission in a private college and appear for my 10th again,” she informs. Well we are sure you will touch great heights with this show too Ulka!!!