Yashashree Masurkar who charmed viewers with her role Khanak in Star One’s Rang Badalti Odhani has now donned a royal avatar as she is essaying the character of princess Mrignayani in Imagine’s Chandragupta Maurya. The actress talked to TellyChakkar and shared her journey from being a simple village girl in Rang Badalti Odhani to a princess in Chandragupta Maurya. Excerpts from the interview... Tell us about your role in Chandragupta Maurya… As you know the series is based on the life of Chandragupta Maurya played by Ashish Sharma. I play the character of princess Mrignayani who is the love interest of Chandragupta Maurya. The story is replete with emotions, action and drama. After playing the character of a simple village girl in Rang Badalti Odhani I wanted to experiment as an actor. This is when the role Mrignayani was offered to me and I decided to live it. How did you prepare for the role? I didn’t get much time to prepare for the role and I was a bit nervous before the shoot. But the director of the show helped me a lot and made me feel comfortable and that is how I managed to get the feel of the character. However, I am still learning with each passing day. How different is Mrignayani from Khanak? Both the roles are different in all aspects, be it dialogues, clothes or anything else. Rang Badalti Odhani had a different theme and Chandragupta Maurya has an altogether different theme. But I must add that the character of princess Mrignayani is a bit more dramatic as I wear typical Maurya dynasty attire with a dhoti and two dupattas and heavy jewellery. However, I feel portraying the role of Khanak was equally challenging. Do you miss playing Khanak in Rang Badalti Odhani? Oh yes, I loved playing Khanak and the character is very close to my heart. I miss everything about RBO; the set, the shoot, the script, my co-actors, directors, and everything else. My RBO days were the best days of my life and I will always cherish them. Share any fond memory from the sets of RBO There are lots of memories actually. But I remember one incident when in the show I had to slap my husband’s killer. I was really nervous before the scene but after the shot got over everyone on the sets started clapping. That was a very proud moment for me. Now tell us something about your personal life. Are you seeing someone? (Laughs) No, I am not that lucky as of now. I am single and ready to mingle. For now I have just one partner with me whom I love unconditionally, my baby cat Moe. Any other projects in the pipeline? As of now I am concentrating on Chandragupta Maurya. Let’s see what else comes my way.