I apologised to Siddharth Shukla on first day of Dil Se Dil Tak: Rashami Desai

At her fittest best, Rashami is back on television in a lead role with Dil Se Dil Tak. In an interview to indianexpress.com, the television star speaks about her new show and what it took for her to develop a chemistry with her hero.

Shows after Uttaran didn’t excite me, sabbatical was important

Rashami rose to fame with daily soap Uttaran, which went on air in 2008. After Uttaran was shut in 2014, Rashami took up a lot of reality shows and supporting roles in a few fiction dramas. The actor, however, was left unsatisfied and decided to take a break.

“After Uttaran I did a couple of shows but I wasn’t very happy with them. I did a lot of reality shows but there came a point where I felt I wasn’t giving time to myself. I worked so much for all these years that I felt it was too much and then I took a break, spent time with my family. After this sabbatical, I decided that whatever I pick, I will be choosy about it. Then Dil Se Dil Tak happened,” she says. A three-year break on television seems a risk, considering there are new shows and new faces being launched every six months. But Rashami feels a sabbatical does wonders to an actor.

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“Taking a break is not a risk. All the film actors, who want to play the best characters, also take a break. They work on themselves and the characters. They do homework. On TV, we don’t have that much time to work on our  roles. If you keep watching an actor daily for a long time, you don’t feel that connect anymore. So, a sabbatical becomes important. The character, I played in Uttaran, has created history. Tapasya has made me what I am today. But now with this new character (Shorvari), I want to work really hard and for that a break was essential,” she explains.

Dil Se Dil Tak is the perfect comeback

Before the show happened to the actor, she came close to signing new dramas but they didn’t work out. Now in retrospect, Rashami feels lucky that those ventures failed as she finds Dil Se Dil Tak the perfect opportunity to expand her graph as a performer.

“I was very close to signing a few shows but somehow it didn’t work out. By the time Dil Se Dil Tak happened, I had started working in Gujarati films. So, I was supposed to begin work on a Gujarati movie and I got a call saying that I am selected for Dil Se Dil Tak. The makers asked me to not to do the film. But I couldn’t leave my commitment. I told them so but they said they would wait for me. I was shocked. It is my favourite channel Colors, my favourite writer Shashi ji, who is also the show’s producer, and a great co-star in Siddharth, so, I really wanted this to work out. We began shooting the show after I completed my film,” she says.

Also read | ‘Dil Se Dil Tak’ is about mutual trust, respect: Siddharth Shukla

The show deals with surrogacy. It features Rashami and Siddharth as a happily married couple, whose lives go through a series of ups and downs upon the entry of a bar dancer, played by actor Jasmin Bhasin. Elaborating on the challenge she is facing while playing the character, Rashami says, “My character is someone who doesn’t express through words. She uses gestures, eyes and her facial expressions to express what she is feeling. That is interesting. In fact, as an actor, this gives me a lot of scope for performance.”

See pictures from the launch of TV show Dil Se Dil Tak 

Siddharth is chilled out, but I was scared to romance

The promos of Dil Se Dil Tak are being lauded for the stunning pair of Siddharth and Rashami but for the actor, it wasn’t easy exploring her romantic side in front of the camera. Rashami says that she was so nervous about romancing onscreen that the first thing she said to Siddharth, whom she fondly calls Shukla ji, before their first shot was sorry!

“This is a romantic show, something I have never done before. I was extremely nervous. Whatever romance I have done, it is with Gaurav Chopra (in Uttaran) and he is one of the best actors. So, with him, it was easy because half of the times he managed for both of us! On the first day of Dil Se Dil Tak, I told Siddharth, ‘Shukla ji, I am scared. Please don’t mind, I have never romanced on screen. So, if I screw up, forgive me.’ He called me an idiot and laughed off. So, then all was fine. We started with the title track and from there our chemistry built up. Siddharth is a very natural actor and the same goes for me,” she says.

Dil Se Dil Tak will air on Colors from January 30 and replace Bigg Boss.