Soha Ali Khan: Receiving praise from Naseeruddin Shah is gratifying

MUMBAI: Soha Ali Khan, who is making her debut on OTT with web series 'Kaun Banegi Shikharwati', says she had more than one reason to be part of the show and that an emotional scene with veteran star Naseeruddin Shah made her feel content as a performer.

In conversation with IANS Soha said," Firstly the story of the show is very interesting and since it is an ensemble cast, every character is so very important. I am playing Rajkumari Gayatri one of the princesses. There are a lot of conflicts going on between my character and Raja Mrityunjay that Naseer Sahab is playing.

"There was one emotional scene where I broke down in tears before him. We did the scene and the day went by. In the evening, when all of us sat down for dinner, Naseer sahab told me, 'I was looking for you, where were you? I want to tell you, your performance was so on point! Your crying were natural and you felt those lines before saying it...you are good!'."

She went on adding, "Such words from an iconic actor like him was so gratifying. I am happy!"

"Also it was interesting for me to work with Naseer Sahab because he is quite interested in teaching in a very easy way by sharing tips. Since he is constantly doing theatre and surrounded by the young minds he is very easy going with our gang, our generation, you know...so being an attentive person it is interesting to work with him," added Soha.

The show 'Kaun Banega Shikarwati' revolves around a dysfunctional royal family where the old king of the family stays in the palace and due to the overdue of heavy wealth tax of Rs 32 crore, he calls up all his daughters to the palace who otherwise stay in different places separately.

Interestingly, Soha herself comes from a royal family of the Nawab of Pataudi.

Asked about how she looks at the liability of maintaining royal properties she said, "Listen, when you are born and brought up in a royal family, as children you are not supposed to talk about money because it is considered as bad manners. So as a child, I did not know how rich we were. But when it comes to our lifestyle, a part of it has gone out of practice because of the modernity."

"When we go to Rajasthan, many palaces are turned into heritage hotels because maintaining the huge property is a really big deal. Unless you move with time, connect with real people out of those royal palaces, we cannot survive. A part of the royal lifestyle we all have to let go of and adapt to the modern lifestyle. That is not just the story of our show but many royal families of our country," shared Soha.

So, does she have any typical royal habit in daily life, that she has inherited from the Pataudi 'khandaan'?

"I don't think so, I am quite a realist in my life but there are few habits that I have that Kunal (Khemu, actor and her husband) points out (laugh). I love taking a luxurious hot water shower every day, not only in the winter but even in the summer of Mumbai. My feet massage, my love for eating exotic fruits...but I don't know if it is a princely habit, everyone must be having such things, right? Or is it me? (laughs) I don't know..." Soha signed off.

'Kaun Banegi Shikharwati' features Naseeruddin Shah, Lara Dutta, Soha Ali Khan, Kritika Kamra, Anya Singh, Raghubir Yadav, Cyrus Sahukar, Varun Thakur, among others. It releases on January 7 on ZEE5.

SOURCE : IANS