Now, I have the confidence to do plays: Hina Khan

She started her career draped in a saree and mouthing overthetop dialogues for popular daily soap Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai Soon Hina Khan explored films and digital entertainment Doing a play though was not in her scheme of things The actor however had a change of heart when she was offered Zee Theatrersquos teleplay Shadyantra also starring Chandan Roy Sanyal and Kunaal Roy Kapur In conversation with midday Khan talks about the learnings from her first teleplayEdited excerpts from the interviewWhat made you try your hand at a teleplay at this stageI have been approached for plays in the past but I could never take them up because they are timeconsuming They need longer hours for rehearsals that run into months I didnrsquot have that kind of time or that level of patience I always picked up something else that didnrsquot demand too much time and would offer good money Also I was not confident about performing a play live But this time I wanted to give it a shot because the makers would be shooting itKunaal Roy Kapur plays a cop in the Hina Khanled teleplayHow was the first experienceIn Shadyantra I play Natasha who is rich and married Chandan plays my husband who plans to kill me and make people believe that I died by suicide An inspector comes into the picture Eventually itrsquos seen that my character is not dead instead someone else is the victim while I am a suspectWhen I came on board I told the makers that I was available only for six hours a day However with time the unit became like my family and I realised that the format needs time There are timeslot blockings that need to be done your voice needs projection and so on It was a great learning experience for me as an actor It gave me a lot of confidenceAlso Read Hina Khan Perfect definition of beauty with brainsWhat was particularly challenging for you in this mediumI have done television films and web shows but this is a different medium In a show you tackle one scene at a time learn the dialogues and shoot it But in this case you are given a 100page script and you have to know it by heart Here I had 90 pages of dialogues to learn I wanted to pat myself on the back for learning them in five days Now if someone approaches me for a play I am ready I am ready for a live performanceWere there new learnings as an actorA teleplay is shot like a play The actors had to wait on the mark near the door when one exits the other actor enters It was a different experience from shooting a film or TV After your scene is over you have to come back on stage in 10 minutes so there is no break once you start performing Between scenes I had enough time to change into the next costume but had no time to change my makeup We shot it in two daysGoing forward will you be open to performing more playsIf I am given enough time to rehearse I can definitely do it again I didnrsquot have this confidence before In fact if they take the plays on tours I would be more than happy to join the team Travel is therapy for me now I have the confidence to travel for plays