The sweet and talented Gulki Joshi, who was last seen on small screen in Zee TV’s Phir Subah Hogi, is all set to embrace theatre. She will be playing an important character in the Rajesh Nahar produced and acted English adaptation of the hit 1970’s Vijay Tendulkar written controversial Marathi play Sakharam Binder. Says Gulki, “The theme revolves around the protagonist Sakharam Binder who is unabashed about his viceful ways (alcohol). He picks up homeless girls and gives them shelter in lieu of sexual favours. His first victim is Laxmi played by Sharbani Mukherji. She is very docile and takes whatever treatment that is meted out to her. Then enters my character of Champa who is very bold and does not hesitate to raise her hand on him if she feels he is wrong. What happens to Sakharam post my entry is what you should check out when our Yogesh Pagare directed stage presentation premieres on 12 January.” Here Gulki admits that, “It was tough to prepare for such a free-thinking character. Also I had to bring out the stark contrast between Laxmi and Champa, so I had to work a lot on my confidence and body language as well.” When asked what is her personal take on sexual favour and she states, “Morally and ethically it is totally wrong. But then in real world everything is either black or white. If you see the give and take from a pure business prism, it is a good deal. The play also exposes the dark underbelly of the class and caste-divide which we wish to ignore.” Gulki also does not think that playing such a bold character might harm her TV image. “To be honest, we TV actors don’t think so much. We will have this liberty only if we are a Salman Khan or Aamir Khan. At our stage we have to consider what we get.” When asked about reports of her being approached for Imtiaz Punjabi’s Life OK show she avers, “Yes, I have been approached, but I have not yet signed the dotted line.” Ask her about her previous show Phir Subah Hogi and she says, “It was good till the story line was changed. But even then, the channel and production house said that the above changes were only effected as the original story line was not getting ratings. So all I can say is that we don’t know what really makes the rating charts run. At the end of the day we are only actors who are doing our job.” All the best for your stint with theatre, Gulki!!!