Saumya Tandon is quite happy with her look in Zee TV’s Dance India Dance season 3. “Unlike the earlier seasons where I only wore saris; I have a very cool ensemble of flamboyant lehenga cholis and gowns, this season. The label Jade has provided lehenga cholis and well known designer Anita Dongre has dressed me in beautiful, colorful and well cut gowns.” Saumya, who has also anchored Zor Ka Jhatka: Total Wipeout and Comedy Circus, believes that it took time for the Indian TV industry to understand her distinct fashion sense. “I can never wear heavy saris and jewellery. I am glad that they come around and now don’t want me to dress over-the-top.”
Apart from this, she is also co-hosting Bournvita Quiz Contest with Derek O'Brien on Colors. “It is very important for a host to present a very charming personality on screen that people like and want to associate with. Unlike a fiction show, be it drama, romance or comedy, you have a script to follow; but when you are a host, you have to be yourself.” She asserts that you also need to have control over your language: “It is easy to mug up dialogues in fiction, but as an anchor you need to improvise on the go and that is when your diction and command over the language comes to the fore.”
She also accepts that you have to look good on screen, “That is a necessity in the visual medium. You can’t look tacky. It is like a doctor saying I will not wash my hands before surgery; this is what we are paid for. I can’t say I can look off (tarter in teeth and unkempt hair, etc) as I have to concentrate on my lines. I also have to look good for young girls who look up to me as a style icon.”
In closing, Saumya Tandon informs that she would like to return to films (Jab We Met) if something interesting comes along. “Vidya Balan has changed the face of Indian films with her bold portrayal of Silk Smitha in the The Dirty Picture. I recently met her and told her that you have made all women proud by showing that women just don’t become successful merely by standing beside a big hero in a film.” All of us agree to that, Saumya.