Imran Khan is the most humble actor I have met till date: Shamoly Khera

Shamoly Khera, the face of UTV Stars, is an anchor, an actress and a doctor (she is a cosmologist and a MBBS) all rolled into one. The multi talented lady anchors, scripts and produces two major shows on UTV Stars namely Live my Life and Style Addict. She is also a renowned theatre personality. In short, she’s a rare combination of beauty and brains. For our Behind the Lens section, she shares her personal and professional balance Excerpts: How did your journey in this industry begin? Well, I am born and raised in Mumbai. I am a cosmologist as well as I have done my Masters in Medicine (M.B.B.S). Since my childhood, I was always in touch with beauty and style factors. I started my career as a theatre actor, then moved on to television (anchoring). I have a Beauty and Slimming center called Slim Sutra and I am also the editor of my own music magazine The Big M. Currently, I am anchoring, producing and scripting Style Addict with UTV Stars and hosting a couple of other shows including Live My Life also on the same channel. How did you get into UTV stars? (pauses) See, I was already a theatre personality and was into acting. Then when the channel was coming up, they approached me. And this is how I got into the groove of the channel. How do you manage both the shows? Must be tough enough! (smiles) Managing is not an issue. My educational background has given me a lot and I have learnt a lot. I must say that Style Addict needs a lot of personal touch. For Live my Life, we have a team for that and I always wanted to do a show wherein I would anchor and script it myself so that I could connect well with the audience. This particular show gave me that platform. Reality shows are mostly scripted. How is Live my Life different from the others? Anchoring Live my Life is different as I do the scripting too but I have a team which selects the right people who double up as fans, the research team asks questions and get the who’s who is real and who is just basking in the limelight. The team works on very minute details and as an anchor, I have to deal with various emotions of actors who meet their fans who sometimes end up going in a frenzy while sometimes they scream. The balance has to come from within. Live my Life is one such show that connects and bridges the gap between the star and his fans; there's more of a human touch in the show and at times we all get to know the reality of the fans. We never shortlist people who fake to be fans. On the other hand, Style Addict is a show which talks about the sense of fashion which is very different from Live my Life. This is a show that talks so much about the real life of the actors, the way they struggle to reach the location and the hard work every actor puts in to get to that particular level. How does the channel deal with starry date issues? The team works hard on it. We do ask the actors for the availability and according to that we line up shoots. Has there been issues wherein the actor couldn't make it? Yes, it does happen. They have their last minute schedule and for such an eventuality, we do have a proper back up and planning. Any actor you remember who has been very kind and co-operative? Yes, I remember of Imran Khan, he is so very humble and kind that even when the cameras are off, he keeps on chit-chatting with his fans. He keeps on sharing things. Sometime he forgets that he is a star and starts talking like a friend. How is anchoring different from acting? As I am from theatre, I understand that anchoring is a very spontaneous act while when you are into acting, you have to give several retakes. Anchoring these two shows has got me very inclined towards every aspect of life. While managing your personal and professional life did you face difficulties? Yes, I did. We, in the family, always follow the tradition of being present for any cause of celebration like a birthday party etc. That is the time when we all go out for dinner. Let me give you an instance, it was my mom's birthday and since I had a shoot for Live my Life on that day, I couldn't attend her birthday party. But unlike others, my family was very supportive and took my absence in their stride. Frankly speaking, I wouldn't have been anything without them. Your future plans? I want to study psychology and also explore various human minds and brains and understand them well. After being into the science stream, I am already well aware of cosmetology, I might even go in to study dermatology in the near future. If I get a good chance, I might look at some acting projects. But, as of now I am happy with Live my Life and Style Addict; they keep me on my toes. Any message for the viewers of UTV Stars? Every one of us has a dream to get into acting or become an actor but never neglect your education for it. It’s the only thing in life that gives you knowledge and power.