My kids influence my work-related decisions: Smita Bansal

Actress Smita Bansal says that her two children play an important role in all the decisions that she makes including those that are related to her work.

"My children do play a very important part in every decision that I make. They do influence my work-related decisions also," Smita told IANS in an email interview.

In fact, one of the reasons why she didn't want to play negative roles in the initial stage of her career was because of her family.

"It's not like I mind taking up negative roles but initially yes, when I started my career I made a choice that I didn't want to do negative roles because of certain things.

"For instance, I came from a family which didn't want me to take up acting in the first place. So if I played a negative role... how the audience would have perceived and connected with the character...."

The "Balika Vadhu" actress didn't want people to question her family regarding the kind of roles she was playing.

"Back then, audiences took the characters much more seriously. Now, people understand that you are just playing a character and it's not you. It's true that you do get typecast in the industry for the kind of roles you take up. So I've always done the 'goody' characters and whenever there is a positive role, people think of me."

"But I have done a negative character before. It was a revenge drama and that's the closest that I have done as far as negative role is concerned," she added.

Smita has now bagged a role in "Nazar" - a supernatural fantasy drama set in modern India.

"Supernatural is one genre which has always been very popular with the audience because getting scared is something that you can experience and it excites the audience.

"No one knows what the reality is, but they want to know and it has always intrigued the viewers. I am a fan of horror films myself and I get very scared. This genre has always excited me and being a part of 'Nazar', it comes from my love for horror and supernatural since forever."

Another project that she is excited about is the reboot of Ekta Kapoor's hit show "Kasautii Zindagii Kay".

"It is a very happy feeling that 'Kasautii Zindagii Kay' is coming back. We, actors, always say that the earlier shows were so good, with much better content and how we all enjoyed working for them. Similarly, I feel TV is now getting back to good content which is a great thing for both the audience as well as the actors," said the actress.

Would she like to do a cameo role in the reboot?

"I did a cameo in 'Kasautii...' earlier because Nivedita (her character) was being played by someone else. I stepped in and replaced Poonam (Narula) for that role and my stint in 'Kasautii...' was just for a month or so.

"I didn't do a full-fledged role in it. To be honest, to do a cameo in 'Kasautii is something I haven't thought of, but I would love to be a part of it (the new version)," said Smita, known for her work in shows like "Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii", Sanjivani - A Medical Boon" and "Itihaas".

(Natalia Ningthoujam can be contacted at natalia.n@ians.in)

--IANS

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