Going solo : Saumya Tandon

The attractive Saumya who is currently hosting Comedy Circus Ke Tansen was also seen playing a key role in the runaway hit Jab We Met. Today she is one of the most sought after television anchors. In a freewheeling chat with Tellychakkar she talks about her love for anchoring, her style quotient and her career path. So do you miss acting? I miss acting but I want to do quality work. I get tons of offers for films but then nothing has impressed me yet. For me the medium of entertainment is not important. I want to do quality entertainment for my audiences. Naseeruddin Shah is my idol and if one day he asks me to do theatre with him I would love to do it. Are you doing any films currently? I have shot for a Punjab film called “Welcome to Punjab”. After essaying Roop in Jab We Met a lot of people started thinking that I am a Punjabi which I am not and hence a lot of offers for Punjabi films started coming in. I found only one of them interesting and hence took it up. The director of the film Ravindra Peepat approached me with a role of the female lead which was a challenge as this is the first time I will be playing a solo lead in a film. But why a regional film? As I said previously one reason was the challenge of playing a solo lead and secondly regional industries like in the South, Punjabi and Bhojpuri are huge in markets abroad. This film will give me a chance to connect with the NRI audience which loves watching these kinds of films. What is about anchoring that attracts you? Anchoring gives me a chance to present myself as person that I am and not as a certain character. People know me as Saumya and not some name of a character that I play. You like to co – hosting or do solo shows? Co- hosting can be interesting but hosting by yourself allows you have to have total control. For co- hosting you need to have good chemistry with your partner otherwise it can go wrong very easily. It’s important for both the people to connect with each other. Who is your favourite co – host? I loved hosting with Shahrukh on Zor Ka Jhatka. It didn’t do as well as we expected but by far hosting with him has been a great experience. He is an intelligent person and charming anchor. He performs so brilliantly that your performance naturally improves. We did a lot of impromptu scripts and he is very witty, jovial, charming at the same time not at all insecure. Also I have met a lot of celebrities but there is no one as sweet and humble as him. You are one of the fittest hosts. How do you stay fit? I have phases of doing things. It’s tough to maintain fitness as I get very little time since I do a lot of live events. I work for 18 to 20 hours at a stretch which causes a lot of stress so I make sure I do some physical activity at least three times a week. I love doing power yoga, dancing and working out in the gym. Right now I am in the gyming phase. I have some personal targets which I have to achieve as I am not at my fittest best after which I will take up any of dancing or power yoga. You are also known for your style statement. Who designs your clothes? I like to select my own clothes but at times I don’t get to do that. At times I am given clothes that I don’t like so I invest my own money to buy the clothes that I wear on my shows. I go for classy clothes and hate gaudy ones. I had a designer called Joe who I am very fond of. For Indian clothes I like Tarun Tahiliani, Anamika Khanna, Manish Malhotra and Sabyasachi. I pick up my western clothes from London whenever I visit my sister who lives there. So like many of your contemporaries have you too moved from television to films? I surely want to do films in the future but only the quality ones. I want to be remembered for what I do in a positive way. I want to do fresh and different roles and my biggest fear is getting a film and not being remembered for my role. Television is something that I will always do as it helps in connecting with large audiences which doesn’t have the money to buy tickets and go to movie theatres. Television is like a newspaper which people read daily and forget about it the next day but films are like magazines which people buy to read and then if they love it, they preserve it to read again. But I definitely don’t want to be a participant on shows like Bigg Boss or a show that involves doing tasks for winning as I am not here to prove that I am any superwoman. All I want is to entertain people. Not many know that you are a writer? When I was in school I was a child prodigy. I recited poems on radio channels and Doordarshan. I feel writing is my true calling in life and everyone used to tell me that but I don’t get time to do that now. I want to get back to writing but the city sucks you up so much that there is hardly any time left for that. Are you seeing someone? No comments! I don’t like to discuss my personal life with the media.