She waited for nearly a year to make her comeback in a daily soap. And AmberDhara, according to Shweta Gulati, is exactly the kind of show she was waiting for. She plays the antagonist Sonya in the serial which revolves around the story of conjoined twins and is set in a small hill station. It is also her first negative role in her television career of nine years.
"Sonya is a gorgeous girl and the only daughter of one of the richest and most influential men of the hill station. She has been brought up like a princess but she is a brat with loads of attitude. She wants power and fame and will resort to any means to achieve it," elaborates Shweta who finds it bit difficult to play an outright negative character. "It is my first negative role and I am finding it difficult to bring out the grey shades. The director keeps reminding me that Sonya is not a good girl. He keeps telling me to behave like a bad girl and bring out the venom. Its taken me a while to get into the groove of the character."
Sonya, who is used to attention, does not like it when the Siamese sisters start stealing the limelight from her. "She cant take defeat sportingly and believes that she is the best. But when Amber and Dhara are around, things are different and she cannot take it," Shweta elaborates further. Things go from bad to worse when her love interest Akshat also falls in love with one of the conjoined twins. The story moves from the hill station to Mumbai when Amber and Dahara come to the city to pursue Ambers dream of making it big in the world of music and Sonya follows them.
"Sonya also has interest in music and she wants to become a music star. So the conflict with Amber and Dhara will continue," says Shweta who did not work for more than five days in a month for the past one year. "I slept a lot, took care of my dog and watched a lot of television to keep myself abreast of whats happening in various soaps. None of the soaps interest me but I was really hooked on to reality TV."
If she is playing a negative character for the first time she is also doing her first comedy show with Jigar Ma Badi Aag Hai. "Its about three con men and I am playing the girl-next-door who is the love interest of one of the boys. I dont know how good I am at comedy but I guess I can manage it," she adds.
The actress lives on her own in a rented apartment in a western suburb of Mumbai while her parents stay in the central side of the metropolis. "I decided to move into my place in order to save time while commuting. But its also a sign of financial independence," she admits. Shweta loves holidaying once in every four months and her favourite destination is Goa. "I just love the place," she adds.
