MUMBAI: Apara Mehta is one of the most renowned names in the entertainment industry. She has predominantly been a part of television and Gujarati theatre and along with that; she has also made her presence felt in Bollywood by appearing in quite some movies.

The veteran and highly skilled actress was a part of Anupamaa on Star Plus which features Rupali Ganguly in the titular role. Her character of Guru Maa/Malti Devi had a transformation where she came across as a strong negative character. (Also Read: Exclusive: Apara Mehta talks about her association with Anupamaa’s producer Rajan Shahi; says ‘Rupali Ganguly has done of fabulous job and the show is well written’)

In an exclusive conversation with Apara, she shared how the audience comes with contrasting views and some of the social media users pass extreme personal and negative comments which need to be addressed.

Apara shared, “The audience wants drama but do not like extreme negative characters. It is really questionable how the audience is taking the drama showcased in daily soaps so seriously! It is an artist’s moral responsibility to put out the best of what is expected from the assigned role. We are where we are because of our viewers. But people do not understand nuanced things. They need to know that daily soaps are produced for entertainment.

A film is shown for two and a half hours. But here we are putting in hours of hardwork and content is constantly being churned.

I was never on social media and for the first time I came on Instagram where people showed me a lot of love. But as Malti Devi turned negative, people became nasty and abusive. It was like a personal attack. What bothers me is that people do not understand the difference between reel and real. I receive good feedback 95 percent of the time but it is the other five percent who need to understand that I am playing a character in the show and that is not how I am in reel life.”

Well said Apara! (Also Read: Must Read! Anupamaa’s Apara Mehta opens up on Smriti Irani on coming to Ekta Kapoor’s show set after suffering a miscarriage, “it is a difficult life to be in TV…”)

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