Sudhir Pande & Bhavana Balsaver celebrate Sankranti

Adnaan Rizvi
Actors Sudhir Pande and Bhavana Balsaver were in high spirits when they visited Lucknow on Friday. The actors not just enjoyed the chilly weather in the city, they also flew kites and shared their memories of Makar Sankranti when they visited the Lucknow Times office.
What makes Makar Sankranti so special for both of you?
Sudhir: Maine patang bahut udaayi hai when I used to stay in Delhi during my college days.That’s one distinct and happy memory of Makar Sankranti for me. There used to be massive jamghats in Delhi during festivals like Diwali and Makar Sankranti, jisme humne khoob patang kaati aur katwai hain. We used to search for the best manjha in old Delhi and then fly kites. Our fingers would get cut from the manjha so we used to tie a cloth around it. Jabtak acchha wala manjha na use karo tab tak patang kaatne ka maza hi nahi aata tha. When I used to fly kites during school days, humlog ki khoob sharten lagti thi. Ab toh log lakhon ki shart lagate hain patangbaazi mein, at that time we used to bet small amounts. Hum bhaagte thay patang lootne ke liye, and we used to enjoy a lot.
Ab toh patang udane ko milta hi nahi hai because of so many multi-storied building all around. There’s hardly any space to carry on the hobby of kite-flying.
Bhavana: I used to be a tomboy as a child. I also tried flying a kite but somehow couldn’t manage it. Meri patang zyada der tak udti hi nahi thi ya koi usey kaat leta tha (laughs). So I wouldn’t say that because I was a girl I couldn’t fly kites. It’s all about expertise, I guess. But Makar Sankranti I used to enjoy a lot for all the lovely food and sweets we used to get at home.
How did you enjoy Lucknow winters?
Sudhir: When it becomes very cold here in Lucknow, then we get to experience a bit cold in Mumbai, jisse wahan sab bonfire jalaane lagte hain. Because of my character’s dress, I had to wear these extra clothes, else I enjoy winters a lot. Since I belong to Uttarakhand, I am quite aware of the winters of the Eastern states, so yahan chaahe jitni bhi thand ho, hum bardaasht kar lete hain. In fact, I am loving this weather here in Lucknow.
Bhavana:I was super-excited when I was told I was coming here for the promotion as I always enjoy coming to Lucknow. More than complaining about Lucknow winters, I am enjoying it to the fullest. I kept my sweaters and shawls packed in my bag and didn’t take them out as Mumbai mein aisa mausam humlog ko kabhi milta hi nahi hai.
'Gutur Gu', being India’s first silent comedy TV show, earned a lot of appreciation from the viewers. How challenging was it to make people laugh with just your actions in the show?
Bhavana: It is very difficult to make people laugh, per se. And 'Gutar Gu' was more challenging as we weren’t miming in the show. It was a totally different genre where we had to come up with the situations where we were neither miming nor speaking dialogues in the scenes. It just required us to act. To bring comedy even in our minor moves was a challenging and action-packed task for us as we had to do a lot of practice to bring in the perfection in a scene.
Sudhir Pande and Bhavna Balsaver, who were in Lucknow to promote their show Belan Wali Bahu, flew kites outside Times of India office (BCCL/ Aditya Yadav)
Will the audience accept you as a lady in a grey character as you have built up an image of a comedy actress?
Bhavana: This is the reason I wanted to do something different. That’s why I did Waaris in 2016 in which my character wasn’t just a grey one, but it was black as I was shown too negative in that. Then again, I wanted to make a comeback in comedy because I wanted to make people laugh. So I chose this show because daraana toh theek hai but hasaana toh punya ka bhi kaam hai.
Is the TV industry also stereotypical? Sudhirji ends up playing Babuji and Bhavana, invariably has a comic role.
Sudhir: From the past 7-8 years, the younger generation has started stepping into the industry, so the parents are also going younger. Therefore, the ones who used to play the role of a father have turned into grandfathers. Abhi bhi hum log father ke role ke laayak hain, but hume dada ke role de diye jaate hain because the lead actors are shown much younger these days. So in that role of a grandfather, I try and bring in as many variations I can in each character. Kisi mein emotional dadaji ho gaye, kisi mein strict toh kisi mein humorous, because we can’t change the trend. So yes, the TV industry is stereotypical.
Bhavana: Yes, it is stereotypical. But I think I am one of those fortunate actors who gets a lot of offers to choose the best one for me. But it can get stereotypical if you want to fall into that rut. Once you finish one show you look out for another where you might get the same type of character to play, which leads to a stereotypical image. I don’t look for work that way that’s why I find myself fortunate enough to be able to play different characters.
How has the genre of comedy changed from your debut comedy sitcom Dekh Bhai Dekh in 1993 to the current ones being made?
Bhavana: Those days there were only weekly shows where it used to take ten days to complete one episode or sometimes even more. Today you cannot afford that as the supply and demand of a single episode is too high. Nowadays, the viewership has increased so much that they can’t wait for a whole week to see and recall the previous episode as there are end numbers of shows of the same genre going on different channels. The industry has expanded physically and commercially, both. Previously there used to be just one or two channels but now it is humongous. That’s how the quality of the shows also suffers, while making episodes in a hurry.
Sudhir: There’s been a vast change in the industry since I began acting and now. Now things are more commercial. In our times, things, the shows, directors and stories were more passionate and done with a lot of emotions. Ab toh it’s like a machine churning out the same thing in different flavours. In fact, I would say, film mein ab content ko le ke zyada experiment hone lage hain as compared to TV. Until people start experimenting with content in this industry and make finite series, the same saas-bahu dramas will continue for years. TV now is lacking in content. Actors toh bahutere hain, stories nahi hain.
— Adnaan Rizvi