One of the most dependable actors on TV,Meghna Malik hit the heavens with her despotic ‘Ammaji’ in ‘… Laado’… But while the world was heaving in awe& wonder at the larger-than-life image, she bared her true persona to GR8! which was exactly the opposite of what was there on the Screen… Here are a few vignettes of that heart-to-heart with the colossus that actually wasn’t… Instead, you’d find a li’l, docile, vulnerable girl behind the giganticfaçade… Read on…!

On small-town bearings…
‘Back in Haryana from where I come, so much harassment awaits girls… If you are a girl born in those environs, getting nastily subjected to eve-teasing is your inescapable lot… Tell you what, a Bombay girl cannot even imagine what girls face in those parts… Surely, if somebody leers at you, you feel so dirty about it… Are ‘girls’ some kinds of exhibits for someone to ogle at…?’

On the li’lMeghna…
‘I was cocooned, tongue-tied and a loner… Mom’s friends counselled her to take me to a Doc as, to them, I didn’t seem ‘normal’… And my Mom really did that… The Doc examined me and laughed heartily – ‘Your girl isn’t an oddball – actually, she’s too intelligent’… You should’ve seen my Mom at that moment – she was crying with relief...!’

On being Acting-material…
‘I’m no AishwaryaRai… Indeed, I don’t have a face like that to be on cloud nine while peering at my reflection in the mirror… But I loved dancing… I’ve been on Stage since the age of four… And by and by, I discovered the ‘Actor’ in me… I was winning prizes left, right and centre at the Youth Festivals etc… Then, I read Naseer and Om Puriji’s interviews and decided to enrol myself in the NSD like them…!’

On resentment at home…
‘Well, that was natural… Look, I come from an Academicians’ family, so they wished me to be one too, or pursuethe IAS or something… But I resisted their advices… But, then, they were enlightened parents and finally thawed to their child’s wishes with just one advice – ‘Now that you’ve decided to do it – give it your best shot…!’

On taking the Train-to-Mumbai…
‘Oh, I almost missed it… When I reached the station, the person who was to bring me my ticket didn’t turn up… But I was too charged up to be held back for anything, not even a ticket… I just flung my suitcase in the compartment and then spent the entire journey sitting on it and that too after paying a hefty fine… But I reached Bombay – and that’s what mattered…!’

On Screen acting…
I didn’t ever want to be a hot-shot heroine… I wanted to be an actor, instead… Coming from the NSD and Stage, ‘Screen Acting’ was awkward for me, initially – you know, they would say - ‘Stand here… give a look to the left and talk to A/B/C, while there’d be no one there… I was shattered… Nothing of what I had learned so far was there in it… I remember, I cried in my rickshaw back to home from the shoot that day… But then, I realised there was a technique involved and I had to master it – And I did that…!’

On actor Meghna’s mega moment…
‘Of course, it has to be Ammaji in ‘Na Aana Is Des MeriLaado’… I had decided to take a break from it all, when, out of the blue, Ammajihappened to me… She was poles apart from me… I could never imagine myself striding in that swinging gait, dripping terror and towering over all and sundry… I was so unsure about carrying it out initially, but the world changed for me when I changed from Meghna’s Jeans to Ammaji’sKurti-Ghaaghra… If transported me to another avatar… I was no longer Meghna – I was Ammaji…!’

On Ammaji’s impact…
‘Oh, it’s phenomenal… I still hear people gushing – ‘Arre, Ammaji… Ammaji’… Negative characters are usually hated by people, but in my case, they have connected to meMeghnamore than Ammaji and they love me…!

On the Meghna Persona…
‘Simple…Very, very simple… I’m the Daal-Roti-Sabzi type with an obsession for keeping each and every thing at home squeaky clean… To me, the definition of ‘Hot’ is Marilyn Monroe standing on that subway grate, fighting to control her skirt from blowing up (‘Seven Year Itch’- 1954)… And I’m not comfortable with ‘Dates’ and ‘Candlelight-dinners’… I’ve been brought up to being a Moralist, but would acknowledge that the ‘Physical’ is important in a relation…!’

On being a Prankster…
‘I am one – and how… I’m all the time raiding someone’s tiffin on the Sets or polishing off someone’s sweets… But don’t ask me about the wildest thing I have done – that’s a secret…!’

On being asked to write her own epitaph…
‘Awww… That’s a Googly… But OK… I’ll do it for you… Umm… hmm… Yes – ‘Here lies someone, who tried to live a Dream…!’