Supriya Pathak: “TV Shows Nowadays Are Very Similar & Regressive”

Supriya Pathak has carved a niche for herself in both the film and television industry with characters like Hansa for Khichdi, Neelu Nanavati in Ek Mahal Ho Sapno Ka and her power packed as Dhankor in Ramleela.

However, Supriya has been missing from the screen for quite a while now. On being asked for whats keeping her away the veteran actress told PTI, “The shows being made nowadays are very similar, very regressive. We are talking about the type of ’60s, ’70s kind of films, and similar stories are being shown on TV today. Only rehashed and glossy. It does not interest me. I also find it problematic that the shows are so long that they keep going on and on. They are unnecessarily stretched. All the work that I have done is the type I would want to watch. If I can’t watch it myself how can I expect people to watch it.”

Having worked in Ek Mahal Ho Sapno Ka, which went on for 1,000 episodes, Pathak believes the show had its own way of storytelling, which invested time on its characters and unlike today wasn’t “pulling anything” in the name of a story.

Pathak said, “It was good storytelling, and it was also a new format that we were making so many episodes. But Aatish ji (Kapadia) kept to a storyline; we were just not pulling things. There were so many characters, and he spent time in telling every character’s story and bringing every character to its end was well-thought. I think the episode’s length was justified by its storyline.”