Terrorists do not belong to any one faith: Shikha Singh

‘Out of mind, out of sight’ is one mantra which forces many TV actors to take up whatever project they get. However, cute and talented Shikha Singh (Left Right Left Season 2 and Na Aana Is Des Laado) has confidence in her own ability. Hence, she waited for her time to come, and finally got herself the strong role of the terrorist Shahana in Life OK’s thriller 26/12 (Sphere Origins). Says Shikha, “It carries a risk of antagonizing some people, but I am an actor who is always in search of good work. I had signed 26/12 in May (2012) but it went on floors only in October last year. I got several offers in between, but I stuck to it as I really loved the character graph.” Talking about her role in the show, Shikha tells us, “Shahana goes through a complete change from being an ordinary housewife to a satanic lady who would not mind sacrificing her own child for a mission. The one thing that I like about the show is that we are very realistic. When Shahana’s husband Malik died, I was shown sans make-up. Also when we run on screen, we sweat as ordinary people do. Beauty is indeed important, but we need to be as real as possible on screen.” Shikha adds, “In light of the recent terrorist attack in Hyderabad, many people do ask us why we are not depicting the terrorists to be Muslims. Our answer to them is that we don’t want to hurt anybody. And it is also wrong to say that terrorists belong to one religion. Extremism is a global scourge. Look at what is happening next door in Pakistan.” Remind her that the ratings of 26/12 have not really rocked and she says, “1.1 TVR is good for Life OK and guess, female viewers prefer only to see drama. And men who indeed like our show are not in a position to take control of the remote (smiles). Having said this, I have met people who have told me that they do see our show at the repeat slot.” Shikha has no issues in accepting that 26/12 can be a limited series. “We cannot go on and on like daily soaps. We have already shown many times that the mission failed, but if we drag it beyond an extent, viewers will start to lose respect and fear for the concept. I feel we are very close to achieving our mission of creating total mayhem. Let’s see if Randeep (Maninder Singh) and Rashmi (Tejasvi Welingker) can stop us.” Looking ahead, the confident Shikha states, “I hope I get something better very soon. I am also game for reality shows, and am a good dancer.”