TV has become an exhausting medium: Himani Shivpuri

While she has been a part of the entertainment industry for decades, an award still brings out the child in Himani Shivpuri. The veteran actress, best remembered for her superb performances in TV shows like Humrahi on DD National (as Devki Bhojai) and in films like Hum Aapke Hain Koun and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, has just received the Sangeet Natak Akademi award for acting (for 2015). A gleeful Shivpuri tells us, “I am over the moon and it’s difficult to sum up my excitement in a few words. This is a very proud moment for me and a recognition for the kind of work that I have done in theatre. Theatre remains my first and last love and even when I am not doing plays, I am associated with it in some way. For instance, I go to Mumbai University as a visiting faculty and talk about the medium. Along with my other assignments, I am doing a play called Draupadi and it has been a fabulous experience.”

The actress is back on television after one and half years with the show Vishkanya-Ek Anokhi Prem Kahaani. Talking about it, she shares, “I took it up because I play an important character, who is involved in bringing about an important twist in the story. It’s a jovial and positive character, which adds a lot of value to the show.” Ask her about the long break she took from TV and you get an honest answer, “Yaar, television has become a very exhausting medium for actors now. It’s like you are racing against time in the race for TRPs, which can be very saturating. When you don’t connect with the kind of content that most of these shows have, it can be frustrating. There are people who come and ask me, ‘Aap log aajkal TV pe naag-naagin kyun dikha rahi ho?’ I don’t connect with shows where we have women looking ultra-glamorous all the time, including in the kitchen. But some of these shows work because a huge section of our audience loves these escapist tales. I can’t do such projects for a long time. In between, I did theatre and even directed a play.”

With a laugh, she adds, “I hardly watch any Indian TV shows and prefer watching a good film or reading over it any day. But my mom is a big fan of our serials and sometimes, we get into fights at home because I just can’t tolerate bad shows on TV.”

Ask her about her son Katyayan and you can feel the pride in her voice as she says, “He is a very good actor but he is happy being behind the camera. He has been an assistant director in big films like Dabangg 2 and whatever he has achieved is purely because of his own talent. I have never recommended his name to anyone because he doesn’t want that. Kids today love to be independent and forget about me guiding him, he guides me on a lot of things!”