Anushka Sharma
Anushka Sharma on her favourite TV series and why she would choose a web series over a reality show...
Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; July 18, 2017)

B-Town actors are jumping on the TV bandwagon. While a few years ago, it was only the senior brigade — Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan — who were offered substantial roles in reality shows, now the younger crop of actors are making their presence felt on the small screen as well. Shahid Kapoor and Jacqueline Fernandez judged Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa, Arjun Kapoor hosted Khatron Ke Khiladi and Sonakshi Sinha was a judge on Indian Idol and Nach Baliye. We spoke to Anushka Sharma about working in a TV show.

A TV person!
Anushka says, “I watch a lot of TV. In fact, I watch TV more than films. Almost every show you can think of, I watch them. I mean, American TV series not the saas-bahu ones.” On the home turf, she prefers to “watch shows which TVF does.”

Anushka’s pick
She can’t name a favourite TV show. She rues, “It is so difficult to name a favourite. I watched The Crown recently and there are many others I like. So naming one would be criminal.” Laughing, she adds, “But my all time favourite is Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

No reality shows!
Anushka admits she has been offered a few TV shows but she hasn’t taken the bait, “I am not interested in hosting or judging any Indian reality shows. I have been offered a few reality shows, but I don’t think I want to do any of it right now. This is not the zone I want to get into, currently.”

Web shows over TV!
With the world taking rapid strides towards a digital revolution, web series too have become the in thing in India today. Filmmakers like Kabir Khan, Rohit Shetty, Farhan Akhtar are backing projects on the new platform.

Anushka reveals, “I am okay with doing anything that has great content. But I think I will be more keen to do a web series because that will be more progressive. And it has got to do a lot with how our world has suddenly become digital.”

Produce them too!
Anushka’s production house focusses on content-driven movies. While all her productions have featured the actress, Anushka says she would like to not just act, but also produce a web series someday. “I would love to back any web series if I genuinely believe in the content. There are so many stories to be told and now cinema is not the only medium. There are various other ways to reach out to people and web series is one of them,” she signs off.