Actor Himani Shivpuri wants to take a break from her ongoing daily soap to dabble more in films and theatre. With a career spanning over four decades, the actor feels the daily grind has become “too much and monotonous.”
On her visit to Lucknow, the actor says, “Daily soap is a very tough thing to do. I tried to balance it with films and theater but now it’s getting too much. It’s been four years now and Happu Ki Ultan Paltan has completed 1,000 episodes. I have resigned earlier too and again I have tendered my resignation from the show but every time the team gets after me. I am so soft-hearted that I am yet to learn to say no but this time I have decided.”
She agrees that TV is tempting. “As an actor we get greedy as we don’t have a permanent job, and this is a very secure income. I kept on for so long as my character is good, and you get attached. But ab ki baar maine mann pakka kar liya hai. I want to give time to myself, theatre, write and get into direction. I had to let go of some very good projects due to my hectic shooting schedule including a film with Taapsee Pannu which needed 25 days.”
Shivpuri has no complaints with the medium either. “People used to say to me that you are doing films with Yash Raj films, Sooraj Barjatya, Shyam Benegal, Subhash Ghai and Karan Johar then why do TV but I can’t ignore the medium that gave me so much popularity and love. I am not one of those who will work in TV and say bad things about it. I want to take a break because I want to do better things, not because I have any problems with it.”
Three months back she shot a film in Lucknow. “I was recently here to shoot Binny Aur Baba with Pankaj Kapur and Rajesh Sharma. I had a good time here shopping and savoring the local delicacies. Besides, I have also completed the shooting for the film. shop which stars Jamtara actors Monika Panwar and Sikandar Kher. I am also doing theatre. I did a solo play alone in Patna, then another as the protagonist in Bhopal and along with Rajendra Gupta have prepared a play Jeena isi ka naam hai which we opened in National Theater Festival in February. So, I have been balancing the three but ab thoda mushkil ho raha hai,” says the actor who was in city to attend the Intentional Children Film Festival underway at City Montessori School.