Mumbai, January 23, 2018: After ageing backwards, Smiriti Kalra played a wife in 12/24 Karol Bagh, an 18-year-old in Suvreen Guggal and a child-woman in Itti Si Khushi — she is finally playing her age on television. The actress plays the glamorous Ahana in Dil Sambhal Jaa Zara, which marks both Sanjay Kapoor and Niki Walia’s comeback on the small screen. “I have either played bubbly or positive characters on screen, but Ahana is grey. She owns up her sexuality and is true to her emotions and thoughts,” she says.

Ask her if she felt any discomfort romancing a senior actor like Sanjay Kapoor on the show and she replies, “Not at all. We are both actors and it’s my job to play a character convincingly. He is sweet and has no airs about the fact that he belongs to one of the most prominent families in the industry.”

Smiriti has been rather selective about her work, a fact that is evident from the fact that she has been a part of just four shows in a career spanning eight years. She explains, “I don’t want to play similar characters. Honestly, I wasn’t keen on acting. It was my father who convinced me to take up Karol Bagh. I thought that the stint would be over in two months, but it didn’t. After that, I started getting similar offers, but I didn’t want to be stereotyped. So, I decided to return with a makeover of sorts and bagged Suvreen Guggal. I live every character that I play. For example, for my character Simi in Karol Bagh, I had to put on weight and stop smiling. So, when I had to actually smile for a sequence, I couldn’t immediately do so, as I had forgotten how to smile. For Ahana, I decided to give a lopsided smile and tilt my head to lend that much-needed mystery. I may not be very famous or rich, but that has never been my agenda either — I want to be known for my talent.”

While she is single and wants to be in a relationship, Smiriti is clear that she doesn’t want to date an actor. “That’s something I have lived by and maintained so far. Most actors are self-absorbed and I can’t stand a man checking himself out all the time. I would like to date a nice guy, with whom I can grow old together. I should be able to have deep conversations with him; and, like every girl, I want to be treated like a princess,” she signs off.