Actor Deepti Devis case is one that perfectly fits into the political definitions of Marathi manoos. Having gone through the routine and much glamourised struggle period of over two years,success for this Gujarati Puneri girl is the alter ego of Sulakshana that she is portraying in a daily soap Antarpaat on Star Pravah.
Coming from a conservative Gujarati family in Narayan Peth,Pune,migrating to Mumbai in search of acting assignments was a complete no-no. So,I remember traveling to Mumbai every day to give auditions in the year 2004-05. I would catch the Sinhagad Express to Mumbai in the morning,eat wada pav on the station,give auditions the entire day and return to Pune by the evening train. And then even if it was one o’ clock at night by the time I came home,I would get up the next day and rush to Mumbai, says Devi,who has completed M.Com from MMCC,Pune and was encouraged by her mother to take up acting as a profession.
What brought about a change in Devi’s routine train journey to Mumbai was the first break she got with Pankhanchi Sawali with veteran actor Ravindra Mankani. What followed was another serial titled Char Divas Sasooche. But what gave me recognition as an actor was Awghachi Sansar in which I played a character called Neha and another serial called Parivar,the first Hindi serial I did on Zee TV, smiles Devi.
Having approached the looks-driven industry entirely on the basis of her acting skills,Devi feels that it was the journey to fame that groomed her as a personality. I always thought that acting was enough to make it big in the industry. But I was wrong. Acting is important,no doubt,but equally important is it to be able to carry an off-screen personality. What I enjoy the most is the confused expression on peoples faces when they see me on streets and try to confirm with each other,whether it is the same actor they have seen on television, says Devi.
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With Sulakshana,the character she is portraying in Antarpaat,life has finally come full circle for Devi. I am a simple girl who is excited about each and every mesmerising thing in the world. The character Sulakshana that I portray in Antarpaat is exactly what I am in real life. She smiles like me,cries like me,gets angry like me and reacts like me. So finally,there is no need to act. Just being myself does the work for me, smiles she.
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