When we visited the sets of Sony Entertainment Television’s Bharat Ka Veer Putra – Maharana Pratap (Contiloe Entertainment), we met the beautiful Aashka Goradia who looked gorgeous and exquisitely beautiful in the attire and lavish jewellery of a royal queen. She is playing Maharani Bhatiyani in this biopic. When we complimented her for looking lovely in her costume, she replied with a laugh, “You may be surprised to know that this is supposed to be my casual look. They made me the most stylish maharani and thus gave me the side tikka. There is peacock work on my nose and neck piece. My character’s bedroom in the show has a peacock bed and dressing table.” Indeed Maharana Pratap’s father Maharana Udai Singh (Shakti Anand), had married her on being enchanted by her beauty. On her character she said, “She is the youngest and most favourite wife of Udai Singh. He is mesmerised by him. He married her because of her looks. She married her because of who he was. She wanted to be the Queen of Mewar. She was the most beautiful princess in the Rajputana.” Not only was she darling queen of Udai Singh, she was instrumental in motivating him which in turn changed history. Of course she was deeply in love with her husband. Though she hasn’t given birth to Pratap, she wonders as to how he can be so brave. “In the show you will see how she loves Pratap and dotes on him. She is mesmerised by him and wonders how someone can be so brave. She had a very pivotal role to play in Maharana Pratap’s life. She loves her family and is a fierce Rajputani.” In real life, she also loves the thirteen-year-old Faisal Khan who plays Maharana Pratap. Interestingly, initially the teenager was afraid of her. He was under the impression that as all the actors were senior to him they would show attitude towards him. After a while he realised much to his relief all the actors were his friends instead. Aashka Goradia elaborated, “Faisal ran away when he first met me. He did not want to speak to me. He had thought that the next thing I would do is maybe slap him. Then I realised that he was uncomfortable and I went and whispered, ‘You know what? You will have maximum fun with me, so you better be friends with me.’ Then we cracked so much. I think his and my day start with one other.” She is full of praise for this wonder kid. “I think I will be adopting Faisal and be his second mother. The boy represents an ideal child. He is so down to earth and respectful towards elders. He has so much of curiosity to learn new things and is a very hard working boy. Till date I haven’t heard him crib about anything. He never throws tantrums about anything. He is ambitious and I know that he will become the next star.” Does she think that royal polygamy created a lot of problems in those days? Her quick reply was, “I wasn’t born at that time to realise if it did or didn’t make sense. What I have understood is that men ruled then, they rule now and they are still there to rule. Women need to rise.” Questions diverted to the genre of the show. “I hesitate to do mythologicals. Actually God will have to come and tell me to do a mythological. Many historicals are coming up. I wanted to do typical costume drama which is why I accepted this series.” She averred that the whole team was working very hard on the show. “There is no typical drama that we are trying to make. We are working very hard starting from the script to the look of the sets.” On the growing popularity of historicals her two pence was, “People are accepting stories which had happened many years ago. It is not a clichéd drama which is just going on and on. It is different and people are accepting historicals.” On a parting note, she said, “We have worked very hard. Please watch the show and especially watch out for Faisal. He is playing the role of Maharana Pratap excellently.” For more updates on the show keep watching this space.