I get a kick out of doing new things: Kavita Kaushik

The early years of 2000 not only revolutionized TV in terms of its reach or colour quality but also witnessed a major shift in its content. Having become a household name with the comic show ‘FIR’ in 2006, Kavita Kaushik has had a long journey in the industry now. The actress will soon be making her debut into the digital space on Hungama.

In this riveting conversation, she speaks her mind on acting, reality shows, OTT & much more :  

What’s your idea of comedy as a genre? 
I think comedy is probably the most difficult genre to play. And if one is really good at doing comedy, it often gets addictive enough that an actor wants to keep going back to it. However, more than anything it’s more like a natural talent. 

There’s been a significant rise in the release of reality shows and talent hunts. How do you see it?
Talent hunts and reality shows have been there for a long time now. However, way back in 2002 when I started my career, it had some real fun and healthy competition. Earlier, they were much more organic and exciting to watch. The real thing about reality shows is that they are quick money. But I feel that the smarter audience knows these shows are essentially money-making for the participants and its makers. They very well understand that these shows are scripted and edited. 

What are you up to these days?
I’ve recently completed the shoot of a thriller web-series for Hungama whose title track is also sung by me. Next year, I’ll be completing twenty years in the industry. So I wanna try my hand at new things now. I recently judged the Taiwan Excellence superstars show. People who have watched me as Chandramukhi Chautala (in FIR) remember my voice in a certain way, but I think it has changed to some extent now. It's now huskier and heavier due to the modulations I have done over the years. I get a kick out of doing new things. It’s a great time for actors who wish to do something different from the usual rut of working 25 to 30 days for TV.

Having been an actor for more than a decade, what’s been the most challenging aspect of acting for you?
It’s waiting for my shot on the sets as I am not someone with a lot of patience. It makes me cranky. I am trying to work on it. If I am made to wait on a set for 5-6 hours, I just want to run to the mountains. This is the only thing I don’t like about the profession.

If you were to tell your life goals as an actor?
To play as many different characters as possible. By god’s grace, I’ve been able to play about 800--900 characters in the 1500 odd episodes of FIR. But that’s been both a curse and blessing for me. It’s been a blessing obviously because I got to play such a variety of roles. But I call it a curse as it has kind of quenched my thirst and has taken away some of my hunger to play different characters. I’ve played some really bizarre characters that have satisfied me as an actor. So I don’t really have that hunger anymore. There’s a lot of things in my life that gives me satisfaction and happiness. Work is just a part of my life and not an end-all and be-all of me.

Do you think the rise of OTT will help the actors on the small screen?
Of course it will, in fact not just the small screen but even the big-screen actors will find a place here. There are some amazing actors who were forgotten as they were not doing much work. But as they appeared on OTT I think they’ve started another innings. It's due to OTT that the audience is getting to watch actors like actor KK Menon today.

When can we expect you in the digital space? 
Next month, where you also can brace yourselves to hear me sing. I am very thrilled about it. I am dubbing for it these days. 

Do you feel that OTT is a more thought-provoking medium?
It's definitely a more thought-provoking medium. It has a variety that television lacks at times. Say you open any channel on your TV anytime, you would see the same look, same saris and same storyline at times. Meanwhile, OTT has variety in terms of different genres, is much more creatively stimulating and so much more thought-provoking.

“To be a more complete actor one must explore himself/herself in both positive & negative roles.” How far would you agree?
I absolutely agree. In fact I started my career with some negative roles. Later, I was also nominated for several awards in the best negative category. It was followed by FIR which won me about 52 awards in the best comedy actor category. So, my career has been a mixed journey where I started with negative roles, moved on to comedy, and then into Punjabi masala films. I think variety is what defines a truly good actor. It’s very important for an actor to not limit themselves, and do things that people do not imagine them to do. 

The best part of being into acting?
It’s a good life. But if you do not take praise or criticism too seriously, then it’s a great life. This is what I have learned from my career, that one has to stay unaffected by too much praise or too much criticism, trolling and brickbats. You should neither be too happy with the praise nor be too dejected with the criticism. If you can maintain a balance, I think there is no profession better than acting. No other profession can give you the entertainment, variety, and different experiences that one gets as an actor.

By: Jaideep Pandey

• Kavita Kaushik