Two of my dramas, 'Unforgotten' and 'River,' were airing at the same time, and Dad had read about my 'success' in a newspaper - he thought it was brilliant. I was thinking, 'Does this mean I'm going to be put in a box for a bit now?'
With my plays, when the lights go down, at least the audience isn't thinking, 'Oh, God, two more hours of this.'
In the end, drama is successful if you care about the people.
'Heirs' is really a good drama. Everyone put out their heart and soul into this series, from the actors to the whole staff. That's why I think we won awards for this drama.
I feel responsible, as many other people's lives hang on the success of a drama in which I appear. But in essence, I think having various experiences and dialogues with different people helps me improve my acting more than taking lessons.
Being No. 1 on any call sheet is difficult. Being No. 1 on an episodic, hour-long drama is really hard.
Everyone loves a slice of period-drama-pie, but I think the success of 'Upstairs Downstairs' is really down to the wonderful format that Jean Marsh and Eileen Atkins created.
I can't even begin to describe what kind of a response 'Humsafar' got. Personally, I feel my other show, 'Zindagi Gulzar Hai,' was better, but it didn't match the success of 'Humsafar.'
