Debashree Biswas best known as Menka of Star Plus’ Suhani Si Ek Ladki has been through a lot of ups and downs to be where she has reached today. In a conversation with Tellychakkar.com she talks about her early success, failure, struggle and dreams. You started as a lead on TV, but today you are doing a character role. What went wrong? “I was lucky to be offered the role of Chandramukhi in the sequel of DD1’s Chandrakanta. I had replaced the earlier lead in the show but unfortunately the serial went off-air in three months. Next I was offered the lead in a Home TV show – an upcoming channel at that point of time. I shot 24 episodes for them but they kept repeating the first four episodes for a few weeks and then the channel went off-air. I had no idea about what had gone wrong but I knew that I couldn’t take another show because I was in a contract with them for a year. Soon after this my struggle in the industry began. I auditioned for a lot of shows where I got rejected at the last minute. It was disheartening but then acting is what I wanted to do and I continued with my struggle,” averred the actor. When did the struggle period finally end? “This went on for a good two years and I decided on taking up episodics. I shot for Arjun, Haunted Nights and Fear Files. During this period I had also shot for the pilot of Suhani Si Ek Ladki and had forgotten about it. I had a lot of time on my hand; therefore I decided on polishing my acting skills. I joined an acting institute called Trading Characters. Luckily a year later when I completed my acting course I received a call from Suhani team to begin shooting.” Is the role creatively satisfying? “I’d say it’s a very challenging role for me. It has brought me out of my comfort zone. I had never thought that I’d be able to do comedy and negative.” How has the response been? “When I was first offered this role I did not know how important it would be. I am appreciated for my performance by my fans, family members and friends. Fans love the fact that Menka is humorous, colourful and full of life. She is also dumb and people who know me find it hard to believe that I can portray such a role. This means I am doing a good job on the acting front (giggles).” What are your inputs on the sets apart from playing your part? “I like improvising on my lines. So that is something that I do often. In fact our writer has started writing my line now. For eg: Menka always says ‘bolo bolo tell tell’. I added it to make her sound funnier.” What’s next? “I want to play a main lead on the small screen for I know that I can take the responsibility of a show. I would like to be a lead in a show associated with a social message or a love story. At present I am doing my best here.” Keep up the good work Debashree.