The stars had a lot of fun on the third and final day of Sahitya Aaj Tak 2024 held in Delhi. TVF Originals Director Shreyansh Pandey, Actress Ehsaas Channa and Actress Geetanjali Kulkarni interacted at the session of this event, TVF’s Hit Factory. During the session, Ehsaas and Geetanjali also answered questions from the audience and shared some of their personal experiences.
TVF made the salaries
Geetanjali Kulkarni, who plays the role of Annu’s mother aka Shanti Mishra in the series ‘Gullak’, is our favourite. She said that even today fans call her by Annu’s mother’s name. Geetanjali spoke on stage about the ‘Gullak’ season 4 episode ‘Chinaiti’. He told how he used his personal experience in the episode. She said, ‘The thing is, before Gullak season 1, I was going home after rehearsal. Two days later we had to go to a photo shoot and my bag was stolen from the car. The keys to the house, the script, the money, etc. They had disappeared. My husband was not at home. When I got to the police station, they told me that if there was anyone with you, to call them. So I called everyone who worked at my house to the police station. I used that experience in Chhinaiti’s episode because I knew how it feels.
Talking about Shanti Mishra’s character, Geetanjali told how she had prepared for it. Geetanjali is a resident of Mumbai. In such a situation, how did she play the role of UP’s mother? Regarding this, the actress said that I think mothers are the same everywhere. Although TVF had worked a lot on his accent. The actress said: ‘TVF has made me work as a worker because of my accent. We rehearsed for 10 days and beforehand I was told not to speak in Marathi. My co-workers Jamil (Khan), Annu (Vaibhav Raj Gupta), Aman (Harsh Mayer) kept an eye on me to see if I spoke Marathi. I spoke in Hindi for a whole month. He used to talk a little even when he received calls from home.
Ehsaas’ career was smooth.
Ehsaas Channa started in the industry as a child artist. She played children’s roles in her childhood and later people learned that she was actually a girl. When asked about this, he said: “It’s still a revelation to many people that that little boy is me.” There are many girls who say that you were my crush and you turned out to be a girl. The actress said that she has been working in the industry for so long that at 25 years old she has 22 years of experience.
Ehsaas was asked if she had any problem appearing on screen as a girl after playing the role of a boy. He had to face some difficulties due to the child’s image. About this he said: ‘I think the journey I took as a child actor gave me a lot of opportunities to work with actors. Everything went well. After the film Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, I got the film Phoonk as a child. Then we got ads and then TVF came along. I am also grateful for the film My Friend Ganesha. I was an artist who used to play the role of a child, so that was my distinctive identity. My trip was very calm. I look at that thing from this perspective.
Did you have doubts about your career?
During the session, Ehsaas Channa was also asked if he had asked while growing up that he wanted to become something else instead of an actor when he grew up. To this he said: “Yes, I thought.” This career was chosen by me when I was 4 years old. I fell in love with him later. I was 3 years old and I remembered Gabbar’s dialogues. My mother saw this and got me into acting. At the age of 18, I was asked what to do next. I thought but I didn’t understand that I can’t do anything other than act. She is in every fiber of my being. I have fallen in love with her. Now I want to become a Bollywood heroine. We are doing everything possible for this. OTT did not exist in my childhood. I watched TVF when I was 17-18 years old. I didn’t think I’d work on this. But I have much more to do. I’m working hard for this. I hope it succeeds.
Gitanjali working for the tribals
Geetanjali Kulkarni and her husband and actor Atul Kulkarni run an NGO together. In this area he works for tribal children. When asked about this during the session, the actress said, ‘We had started an NGO, Quality Education Support Trust. After that we bought a house in that town. After that we felt we had to go further. It is important to connect with the children there because of the facilities we have, the easy education and the books. The exposure received has not yet reached the children of the town. It has not reached tribal children at all because their language is different.
He further said: ‘That is why it is very easy to talk about reservations, we talk about scholarships. But when I went to the school for tribal children, I realized that if I had so many facilities, how far should I go? They do not get even some basic facilities. So I felt like everything I had studied at NSD. As a citizen, as a theater worker, the government has given me a scholarship, so it is natural that I contribute my grain of sand, which makes me happy. So we do theater programs with those children. They teach kids how to clown, they teach art, they set up pop-up libraries, they teach two or three grown kids how to run a library program, how important books are, how they can make friends, all of this. I feel very good. I also learn a lot from this. Those kids are very intelligent, they have a lot of energy, they are very fun to work with. Not only because it is our responsibility, but also because it makes us better humans.
