Saragarhi brings Sameksha back to her Punjabi roots

From brandishing a disposition befitting a queen, to playing a demure village Punjaban of 1897, to now also trying comedy, actor Sameksha is fitting it all in her repertoire as a TV career. Currently playing queen Olympias in the historical series Porus, the actor who has done Punjabi and southern cinema before venturing into TV, is set to feature as Mohit Raina’s wife in the TV series 21 Sarfarosh:

Saragarhi

1897.

“Sohni’s character came very naturally to me, since she is a typical Punjabi lady,” says Sameksha who is the only consistent female character in the show, “It is a small role of Mohit’s wife, who hails from rural Punjab of 1890s. Mohit, who plays

Havildar Ishar Singh

in the battle of Saragarhi, finds encouragement from his wife, the only person supporting him in the fight against the Afghans. While everyone else is telling the soldiers that they shouldn’t probably be fighting for the British.” Though a small role,

Sohni

embodies the typical dilemmas and pangs of separation that soldiers’ families go through in times of war and other non-family postings. “The scenes have been shot very realistically. And the fact that a time when everyone was against these Sikh soldiers fighting the war for the British army, Sohni was very proud that her husband was sacrificing his life for the cause of his motherland,” says Sameksha who was asked to improvise upon the dialogues since they were largely in Punjabi. “Since I know Punjabi, I was kind of guiding the director. For example, I knew how a Punjabi couple would fight in the dialect so he let me add my own version in Punjabi dialogues to a scene that shows a domestic fight between me and Mohit, for sake of spontaneity.”

Next up, Sameksha is also foraying into comedy with a leading comic series, which is about to start its next season shortly. “I want to experiment with different subjects- comedy, historical, serious drama etc. And the challenge comes from the conundrum of these characters. Like Sohni, despite being a village girl is not submissive, and is rather decisive and strong,” she adds.