Sandhya Mridul is back with a bang

Sandhya Mridul is back on telly with Nikhil Advani’s upcoming show Prisoners of War. The actress will be seen playing the role of Nazneen Khan, a feisty mother of two who single-handedly rescues her children after her husband, a squadron leader, goes missing and becomes a prisoner of war. We caught up with the actress at the launch of her new show. Excerpts from an interview:

Is this role your idea of ‘back with a bang’ on television

It’s a great show, a great role and Nikhil is a wonderful director. It’s such a progressive show as compared to what is going on in this country. It’s not a typical television show, which is female dominated. It is a show where the men are nothing without us and we are nothing without them. It’s a very balanced, open and real sort of show, so I am glad I made that choice. It was a huge challenge for me to be Nazneen, a mother of two. I don’t know what it’s like to figure the emotion of a wife of prisoner of war.

Is it true that you found it difficult to get out of your character of Nazneen Nikhil’s energy and passion is so contagious that it catches up with you. Sometimes I relate so much with the character that I cannot disconnect when I go home. For the first month, I had nightmares about them. Two days ago I was shooting a very heavy sequence and literally had to go to other room because I couldn’t stop crying! Fortunately I do a lot of breathing exercises and meditation on the set and that helps me. When I come back home, it’s hot water, the tub, the Epsom salt, some nice music and the yoga nidra that help me unwind.

What has been your biggest challenge in portraying Nazneen The first part while playing any character is to empathise with her. The minute you empathise with the character you play, it’s not difficult. You start feeling as close to that person as possible. I don’t know if I would do justice to what they feel, but I think I have translated it to deliver the pain.

You’ve been fairly choosy with work of late. How do you manage to survive in the industry You survive because you don’t take it as a job and a career. You take it as a passion that you can’t cheat on. Somebody was just asking me, ‘what about bread and butter ’ I said fortunately, I don’t have butter. But sometimes I’ve had to completely cut down my lifestyle so I can manage to pull through.

You are fiercely protective about your personal life. But I would still like to ask, are you dating someone Who’s the lucky guy He is lucky because nobody knows about him. I am not talking about it. I am only going to give you my clichéd lines that I have given for the last 17 years and that is, ‘it’s none of your business’. The world’s interest in me should be restricted to what I do and not who I am. As an actor that’s all I owe (them).