20th October 2023, Mumbai: Charrul Malik, an actress who transitioned from a successful career as a journalist to acting, says she feels herself fortunate to have landed fantastic projects. The actor, who stars in the program Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain, claims she learned on the job.
“I feel blessed as I got this opportunity right after switching from a news channel to acting. I think it’s a blessing when you work on something new and get to learn on the job. The second learning is to be prepared because you don’t get a second chance. There is not necessarily always a retake, and you might have to give your best shot in a single take. Actors, who are around me, are very seasoned and I think it’s a learning experience for me to do my homework, to be prepared, to be confident and to be in a live format. The third learning is to be happy because we are here to entertain people and if we are in a happy state of mind, we will deliver our best,” she says.
Daily soaps take up a lot of time, she explains, with episodes showing 6-7 days a week, “I am blessed since I have such a role where I am not required everyday. I shoot three times a week and that’s not much. I have four days’ time with me and I think I am able to pay attention to my health as well. I am very regular with my gym and my other curricular activities. Daily soaps are not everyone’s cup of tea for sure but we are lucky that in Bhabhiji Ghar Par Hain, we have very flexible working hours. We are called whenever we have a scene and if we have two scenes, we spend time on our sets.”
Daily soap performers are highly regarded since they do numerous scenes, often more than 12 in a single day, which is difficult. she says. “There is no comparison between films and serials because in films, you have one scene in a day, and here there are 12 scenes. I salute all the TV actors because I have seen everyone working in front of my eyes for that long. I have seen lead actors doing 12 scenes in a day and they are very smooth, there is no compromise in their quality of work. They have the best dialogue delivery, expressions, costume change, everything.”
However, daily soaps bring in stability. “Daily soaps are like an addiction for many actors as the fast pace and daily grind works as a motivation and they want to be in that flow. I think this applies in every field. If you keep working, doing the same thing everyday, you get addicted in a good way.”