South block

Even as the sun blazes overhead in Saras Baug and makes the entire filming team irritable,Vandana Gupta keeps smiling and barely breaks a sweat. The 26-year-old actor seems calm,collected and enthusiastic about her first Hindi television project,Teri Meri Love Stories (TMLS),a series of telefilms aired on weekends. The actor,who received some rave reviews for her South films such as Hyderabadi Nawabs,Thavam and Ajanta,is currently shooting the TMLS episode in Pune with Amit Verma of the Hotel Kingston fame. “When I heard about the project,I was quite excited about it and I decided to audition for it. Now we are halfway through shooting and while it is different from filming a South movie,I am enjoying the experience of shooting for television and would love to do it again,” she says.

Gupta began as a ramp model before entering the South film industry six years back. Based in Mumbai,She has also shot over 80 commercials. In the current project,she plays the role of a girl called Priya,an ordinary girl living in Pune. The character,while confident about most things,is insecure about her dusky complexion. “I myself am dusky and I’ve been in fairness cream advertisements so I know how important it is for Indians to be ‘fair’. Personally however,I like being dusky and can’t understand what all the fuss is about,” she says.

The team of TMLS is shooting at Pune locales such as Saras Baug,Camp,Parvati and Deccan. The one and a half hour long TV series is based on urban love stories and airs every weekend on Star Plus. Gupta’s episode is scheduled to go on air in September. Besides Verma,it will star Vinay Rohrra and the newcomer Serena Walia.