Life can be strange at times. Sometimes your strength can prove to be your weakness. Why do we say so? Hear it from veteran actor Smita Oak. “I have strong knowledge of Marathi. It is my strength but it is proving to be a bane now. Everyone wants me to play a Maharashtrian. I want to play other roles, but that simply isn’t happening,” complains the actress. She continues, “I have always wanted to play diverse characters belonging to different communities. But it’s not happening due to my strong Marathi accent. Hence, now I have accepted the fact and go for auditions only where I need to play a Marathi character.” Really a sad situation, we must say. Furthermore, she feels that the TV industry is biased towards Marathi artists. “There are Gujarati actors who have huge mother tongue influence yet they bag roles in shows having North Indian backdrop. I wonder why problems crop up only when it comes to actors having a Marathi accent. This really makes me unhappy,” she ends. Smita, hope the producers are listening to you and they will soon offer you a different role other than playing a Marathi mulgi!!!