Hina Khan's Latest Interview In TOI.

Having been the face of the long-running TV show Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai, actress Hina Khan fields a few questions on the trend of saas-bahu soaps and why she's turned down film offers to stick to one show for years. Excerpts from a chat:
Your show has been on for five years. Indian daily soaps are notorious fro going on for years and years with the same plot..
Hina: It doesn't happen anymore baba. Only a few daily soaps are there who have been going on for years. There are shows going on just for the heck of it but our show is not like that.
During the first one-and-a-half years, it was on number one, and for two years after that, it was among the top three to five shows. Even now it is among the top five. There is no negativity on the show- no negative characters. Other shows work by spicing things up or adding masala to the plot. Ther are not even getting TRPs- not getting numbers out of it. But that's how it works when you have competition. Channels are like, 'Oh! This is channel is running this show, even we should do something like this.' The positivity and simplicity of the show and the simplicity of my character, is what makes it work. And being associated from day one is something. People say I have the maximimum number of awards...
Do you?
Hina: I don’t know. I think I have the maximum number of awards from the channel. I have 27 awards... I think the actors in Tarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah might have something close, because they have been around since about the same time. Sakshi (Tanwar), who is into her second innings, might have something close too.
You and Karan Mehra have won the best jodi award time and again. Did his participation in Nach Baliye affect the popularity of your on-screen jodi?
Hina: No, absolutely not. I didn’t know his spouse... I had no idea that she is a model. You know, you see some advertisements but you don’t know the person. She has also done a movie which didn’t work. Karan is definitely a popular face... people still address her (Nisha Rawal) as Naitik ki real-life Akshara. And I think that in itself is a compliment.
Recently a complaint was filed against Kapil Sharma...
Hina: Yes I heard.
Do you think Indian soaps have overdone the saas-bahu plot?
I think that’s the reason new shows like Kuch Toh Log Kahenge, where a woman falls in love with a man who is 20 years older, and Rang Rasiya are coming up. But people still like the saas-bahu shows. What can a producer do? He is getting his TRPs. Audiences love to watch these shows. Repetitive hain, drag hain par chal rahe hain. Same thing, same plot with new characters, and audiences still love to watch them.
You said you have tried leaving the show but you couldn’t...
Hina: Yes, we had a discussion. The producer, who is like a father to me, said, ‘It’s your decision. You want to do it – your decision.’ But I just couldn’t move on. It’s happened so many times – other channels have contacted me for their shows. But I can’t. This show is the reason I am here.
Do you plan to do movies?
Hina: Yes. I was offered a big Telugu movie, but it had a 60-day schedule. For such projects you need to have a 50-60 days schedule, which can’t be done along with Rishta. So I am waiting for the right time. In other daily shows, people leave the shows – lead characters leave the show for films and then nothing happens.
How do you think your young female audiences benefit from your show?
Hina: You won’t believe but my Delhi friends don’t watch my show. They just don’t watch it. They’re like, ‘Yaar, yeh kya kar rahi hai tu?’ But they are happy for me – they are happy that my show has given me so much.

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