Last year was very difficult for me as I lost my father: Toral Rasputra

Toral Rasputra is best known for her role as Anandi in Balika Vadhu. But she has played a number of other interesting characters as well. In a chat with Bombay Times, she speaks about her career, why 2021 was the most difficult year for her and how she has coped with the pandemic. Excerpts...

After a difficult 2021, Toral Rasputra hopes that 2022 will have better things in store. She says, “On the personal front, last year was very difficult for me as I lost my father in March. We didn’t lose him due to COVID, he had other health issues. Later, when I took up the show Molkki, I tested positive for COVID-19. After I recovered, we moved to Goa for the shoot. So, I had to be away from my family soon after dad’s demise, everyone was very emotional and it was a challenging phase for me. But things are getting better now.”

The actress is gearing up for her next show on TV. She will now be seen in Dharm Yoddha Garud. Talking about her role in the mythological show, she says, “My character Vinta is a calm and loving woman. She shares a great bond with her son Garud and guides him to follow the right path.”

Toral has been a part of the television industry since 2007 and has enjoyed the process of growing as an artiste. She says, “When I started my career at the age of 21, I was a part of the show Dhoom Machaao Dhoom, which catered to my age group. Over the years, I have learnt a lot and grown as an actress, and I am grateful for that.When I look back at my journey as an actor, I have no regrets and I am happy with my career today."

One role from the past that she relates to most is from the show Mere Sai. "The character I played there was very relatable. And now I feel a connect with my new character Vinta too. It's just been a week that I have started shooting for this role but there's something about this character which makes identify with her. I can feel her pain," she shares.

She admits that sometimes a TV actor’s job can get repetitive. She says,“When you play the same character every day, it can get monotonous. That is one of the reasons I have left many shows after being a part of them for around one-and-a-half years. I opt out when it gets repetitive, and my character doesn’t have much to do. That happened with Molkki, too. I wasn’t happy with the graph of my character, which is why I took a break for two months and returned on the show with a negative role."

Toral is glad that people don't stereotype her and feel she can play both, positive and negative roles."Even when I auditioned for this current role of Vinta, the internal team thought that they should try me out for the role of Kadru, a negative character. People always tell me that I should do different kinds of roles because I will be able to do justice to them, be it positive or negative. In my last show Molkki too, Ekta (Kapoor) ma'am wanted to see me play negative in the show. I'm glad that people are liking my work and they want to see me in different characters. But my personal choice would be to play positive roles because I like characters which are emotional and beautifully written," she says.

Ask her if she is looking forward to doing reality shows, something she hasn't done so far, and she says, "I am only interested in dance reality shows. I was offered Jhalak Dikhlaa Jaawhen I was doing Balika Vadhu, but I didn't have time to do both the shows, so I couldn't take it up. I would like to be a part of a dance show. Apart from that, Bigg Boss doesn't interest me because I feel that I will be too boring for that show. But never say never because you never know when you may want to do something."