Straddling Hindi films and regional TV

After a slew of Hindi films and Gujarati plays, work comes in yet another form, TV serials. For the talented Sangeeta getting good work is no big deal. She has her plate full. Currently doing a daily on ETV, (Gujarati), Saathiya ma ek rang ocho Sangeeta works round the clock. She moonlights as a banker during the day. Having played some interesting roles in mainstream Hindi films, Sangeeta is a recognized face on screen, TV and stage. Viewers may recall having seen Sangeeta as Kunal Kapoor's mom in Rang De Basanti or Ajay Devgan's mom in Deewangi. She has also been a part of Honeymoon Travels, Saadhe saat phere. Jaahnavi P Paal caught up with the actress as she was taking off for a night shoot of her on-going soap on ETV. "I play the eldest bahu called Gayatri kaki. It is a very strong and emotional role of a woman who takes care of the entire family. We are in our 375th episode and I have stalwarts like Mukesh Rawal, Samir Rajda sharing screen space with me. What is interesting is the fact that the serial is the number 1 show on ETV and though it airs at 7.30 pm Mon-Thu the show has a huge fan base." Saathiya ma ek rang ocho is an archetypal soap which has all the right ingredients like comedy, tragedy, extra marital affairs. In fact it even has Lord Krishna (Swapnil Joshi) making appearances. "I entered the show as a replacement and came on after nearly 250 episodes. The character was very well accepted by then and it was a tough challenge for me to continue in the same graph. I remember the first shot that I had to do was a death scene. Gayatri kaki had just lost her son and this was an emotional scene to enact. But the scene went off very well and all my fears were allayed," confesses Sangeeta. Sangeeta says that what was important to her when entering the show was that she should be accepted both by her audiences as well as her co-stars. "Today we work like one big happy family. All of us address each other by our screen names even when we are not shooting and end up having so much fun that I am going to miss this when the serial ends. Even my viewers have accepted me. And this means a lot to me." Sangeeta who began her acting career with a Gujarati play by Kanti Madia went on to do even English (The kidnapping of Shaila Khan) and Hindi plays. Having acted in over 30 plays she then tried her hand at serials. Sangeeta was seen on prime time in Star's longest running soap, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi wherein she played Ganga's mom. Ramanand Sagar's Prithviraj Chauhan, Kamini Damini, Kahiin Kissi Roz, Kya Haadsa Kya Haqeeqat, Dekho Magar Pyar Se are some of the serials she has worked in. The multifaceted Sangeeta has recently started her own production called Sangita Joshi Productions. She is staging her maiden play titled ‘Var ne Shodu ke Visa’ on 26th January in Mumbai. It is a collection of 4 short plays. The other three being Disney Worldma, Wall Streetma and Stanfordma. The director is Arvind Vakharia and the plays are written by Sudhir Shah. What gives Sangeeta the energy to efficiently straddle all her jobs is her new found love. She has just got married to top immigration lawyer, Sudhir Shah. Sangeeta soon wraps up the chat as she takes off for some more fun at work