Actress Surveen Chawla may be returning to TV with 24, but she says it's an exception. She swears that she doesn't want to take up television shows. Quite a shocking revelation from someone who made her debut with the fiction show Kahiin To Hoga. Over to the actress:

How does it feel to be back on TV?
I started my career with TV shows. But 24 is nothing like what the medium is right now. It is equivalent to maybe eight films put together, and there is no comparison. I have only made an exception with this show, otherwise no TV for me.

But you got noticed because of your TV show...
It's a big 'no'. Never! I may have started my career with the small screen, but my purpose in life is to grow, evolve, climb up the ladder and not go down.

So, doing a daily soap is going down the ladder?
Unfortunately, it is. I don't watch TV and I never watched it back then, including my own shows. I was sick of what they were trying to show and hence, decided to quit the medium because of the monotony it offered. The saas-bahu dramas are spreading so much negativity. What are they trying to teach people? That, families can't live in peace? We are all hypocrites in that sense. Everyday, TV shows cook up stories about either the saas or bahu scheming and planning to get back at each other. People are forever playing games and the shows are teaching people how to do that. Is this the foundation we want our future generation to have? Charity begins at home. But is this the kind of upbringing we want to give our children? On one hand, there is a huge controversy about a film (Udta Punjab), which is portraying something that is happening in society, a film trying to send a social message and on the other hand, we have these sick shows that exude negativity every day.

After playing beti and bahu on TV, you have been opting for bold films (Hate Story 2). How did your fans react to this?
My fans in Punjab went ballistic when I started doing Hindi films. But I can't stick to TV and Punjabi films all my life. Work is worship for me. I aspire to grow and be a part of something that is creatively more satisfying. However, creative satisfaction has become a pseudo term these days; I want to do bigger and better things in life. I can't keep worrying about people who feel that I am not playing certain characters right. They had issues with my bold scenes, but why can't we treat kissing and nudity the way the West treats it? Don't we kiss our loved ones? Everyone has the same body so why are we making a big deal?