It’s been almost a year since she was last seen on television as the simple Vidya in Banoo Main Teri Dulhan – that is if you discount her appearance in a singing reality show – but Divyanka Tripathi has still not been able to shirk off her popular character. Though she likes us to believe that she wants everyone, especially the viewers to forget her ‘Vidya’ and see her in a new light, something tells us she is secretly happy to be still remembered for her debut role. At the recent press conference of her new show, a comedy to boot, Mrs and Mr Sharma on SAB, Divyanka dressed in dhinchak finery looked a far cry from her earlier TV outing. A bright yellow and gold sari, a green shimmering blouse, bright red flowers adorning her jhooda, dark kohl in her eyes and a flaming red lipstick. She was completely in her character of the innocent, na?ve Mrs Sharma from Illahabad. She couldn’t help gushing how fortunate she was to be playing a different character “especially when I had about five offers in hand at the time this came along and it was as though the producers of Mrs and Mr Sharma kidnapped me and coaxed me into doing this show.” Yet, she was happy to be part of the joy ride that begins on Monday. Divyanka confesses to have initially found the character difficult to play simply because “it’s someone very different from what I have done so far. Mrs Sharma is na?ve, funny and too simplistic. I drew from the women I find in my house to play her. Like I would wonder how my chachiji or my mausij would react to a certain situation. You will find Mrs Sharma even in your families or neighbourhood. I remember I would sit with my writer and director, pour over the script, think of 10 things to play it, make faces in front of the camera, wonder about mannerisms to use, the works…But now I am completely into it. I am no longer fumbling with it or trying to find my feet. I am Mrs Sharma.” So is she na?ve in real life too? “Yes, completely! Like if someone had to make me a butt of jokes I wouldn’t get them at all…it would be like after everyone has laughed, I would get the joke. But on the intellect level, no, I am not na?ve at all. I am very academically sound and can have a conversation on anything.” Like Mrs Sharma, she too is from a small town. Does Mumbai still shock her? “I can’t say that because I have barely known people outside my working circle. I have hardly explored the city. It’s only recently when I had guests over, I had to take them on a Mumbai darshan and I ended up seeing the city for the first time myself.” She is remarkably candid unlike other TV stars who are boringly diplomatic and clichéd. Like when we asked her why we haven’t seen in any other reality TV show she says without batting an eyelid, “Because I can’t relate to them. They are not my scene. You ought to be able to generate enough masala around you to be able to entertain in a reality show. And I don’t have it in me. I’m a simple person; I can’t make up things or be something I am not. So if I had to feature in a reality show, I would come across as the most unreal person,” she chuckles. Again when we ask her if films are on her agenda she is practical enough to say that she doesn’t have the glamour required for Bollywood. “I am sensible enough to know that today if I had to go looking for films, I can’t expect the makers to give me a substantial role; I can’t expect someone to have crores riding on me. All they will expect me to be is glamorous and I can’t do that…so I guess I will continue playing characters on TV till the time someone is confident enough to have faith in my talent.” Well, we don’t know about the filmmakers but we definitely like the girl behind the characters she tries to play so convincingly.