‘Dil Toh Happy Hai Ji’s Donal Bisht on sabbatical from television: I needed some time to breathe

‘Dil Toh Happy Hai Ji’ actress Donal Bisht has been missing from the TV screens for a long time. She will be very soon seen in a Hindi musical web series ‘The Socho Project’. We recently had a conversation with Donal where she spoke at length about her sabbatical from television, her upcoming show, and a lot more.

We did not see you on the TV screens after ‘Dil Toh Happy Hai Ji’, why were you missing from the TV screens for a long time?

I did 4 shows back to back for 4 years. After my show ended I slept for 2 days at a stretch. It felt like I haven’t slept since ages. So I was never out of sight, but I took a small sabbatical from TV because I needed some time to breathe. I was doing ads, events, music videos but just not TV. I travelled to various places after that and explored new places. After Holi, when the lockdown was imposed I did a web-series which I made at home called ‘Tia & Raj’. I also watched some artistic films which helped me enhance as an actor. Henceforth, after working back to back, I needed a breather to come back with a fresher approach.

Tell us something about your upcoming show ‘The Socho Project’?

It is for the very first time, a Hindi musical web series is going to air on any OTT platform. My character ‘Sasha Pink’ is inspired by Madonna, who is a rockstar and a pop-star. Sasha is a very strong character in the show. She is a very talked-about character in the entire series. Basically, it is a grey character and something I have never portrayed before. Not only my character but the whole story and the content of the whole series is very new and never seen before types. It has thirteen songs in 8 episodes and I am eagerly waiting for it to release.

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What is the history behind its title?

The title revolves around a song, which we all are preparing throughout the journey. So it is a song on which everybody is working on in the series. The word ‘Socho’ means thinking and the whole story and the song will make you think.

What is that one thing you have learned from your character in ‘The Socho Project’?

One thing I have learnt is to be fierce, be confident and be who you are. The character is confident about herself. So through the character, I have become more confident because you always take something or the other from the characters you play. And Sasha is a very lovable character. And you cannot hate her as she is very headstrong and righteous. Because that reflects on her face. Her attitude although is very different as she has learnt it in a hard way. So she is very different and one of the strong characters in the whole series.

Were you originally cast for Sasha’s role directly or the makers changed their minds after they came to know that you fit in Sasha’s character perfectly?

So the story is very interesting. The casting head from the production called me up who called me up for a meeting and told me that they want to meet me for this project. And when I heard the story, I wanted to do something interesting like this one. So when Sir told me about the character I thought of giving it a try. When I gave the audition, sir was so stunned. He immediately said “I found what I was looking out for” he also told his creatives that she doesn’t seem like Donal that I met on the first day and I was very happy to receive that compliment from him.

Are you returning to TV anytime soon?

I am an actor, I have worked back to back for 4 years. Even today every single day I receive calls for some of the other TV shows. I just wanted some space to breathe and now I think I am ready to be back on television. And I am just waiting for something different and exciting which is different from the usual.

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7. What’s next on the work front?

Every single day I was doing something or the other. Even during the lockdown, I made a web-series at my home on my own self. And I am a workaholic, I have to be productive all the time. So currently, I am doing ‘The Socho Project’ and I also did a music video called Teri Patli Kamar. Apart from that I also have some ads in my kitty.

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