Of quaint times
In new garb S.M. Zaheer and Risha Sharma with director Sharat Kumar in the middle.
Remember, Jasoos Vijay? The man who attracted many admirers with his investigating skills in BBC’s feel-good serial of the same name two years ago? So identified as Jasoos Vijay is he that very few know his actual name is S.M. Zaheer. After several television serials, he would be seen as an unconcerned husband in Duvidha.
Produced, directed and written by author-turned director Sharat Kumar, the off-beat film is releasing this Friday evening at PVR Saket. Based on Kumar’s hit serial on DD Lal Kothi Alvida, the film has actors from National School of Drama and lesser known faces from the Hindi film industry.
It’s the story of an educated, ambitious woman married to an ordinary school teacher from a small village. They are invited by their dying, old relative – a professor in a politically active hill area, famous for its patriotic and social concerns in the past.
The role
Zaheer, who plays Virendra, says “My ambitious wife Saroja (played by Rashi B.) wants to live in that bungalow after the death of the professor and carry on the social work with the help of its young owner Samar (played by Manoj Sharma). But I don’t like this idea of her mixing with people and having her own identity, so I discourage her and the owner.”Zaheer has earlier worked with Habib Tanvir in the play Agra Bazaar apart from Begum Abida’s plays like Ghalib, Shershah Suri and Shahjahan in the title roles.
Newcomer Risha Sharma plays Rukmini Devi, the professor’s wife in Duvidha. Says this Allahabad University alumnus, “I have done two DD serials Mare Gaye Gulfam and Khatra-e-Jaan earlier, apart from a few awareness campaigns such as Jago Grahak Jago. I was offered the lead role but I chose to play Rukmini as I found it more powerful. Portraying a woman of 1930s was a challenge.”
Risha is playing Rukmini Devi again in Kumar’s new serial that focuses on the life and times of this Congress worker who laid her life during the struggle for freedom.
RANA SIDDIQUI
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