Skepticism was Asha Negi’s first response when she was offered the fourth season of Criminal Justice. Reason? Her limited screen time. “But when I read the scenes, I realized there is so much to do. I found the character challenging and intense. People have seen me as the girl-next-door, but this character is far away from that zone,” says the actor, who plays a nurse, whose murder is at the centre of the JioHotstar series.

The opportunity to be on the set with actors Pankaj Tripathi and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub was another draw for Negi.

She shares, “Most of my scenes are with Zeeshan. When you’re opposite somebody so good, you are nervous and have to bring your A-game. I grew as an actor by watching him perform and sharing the screen with him. Even though I didn’t have any scenes with Pankaj sir, seeing him on set, I realized these actors are so talented, but they don’t make a fuss about being good.”

In the past few years, Negi has tried to build a career beyond television, where she rose to fame in the mid-2000s with shows like Bade Achhe Lagte Hain and Pavitra Rishta. She admits it’s not an easy road for actors who’ve had successful careers on the small screen.

“If I were getting such meaningful roles often, you’d see me [on screen] more. TV has been a blessing because these shows made us household names and gave us popularity. But at this point, people judge us and remember us as television actors. It hampers the kind of work we want to do,” she says.

But Negi knows that dwelling on the challenges will yield nothing. “I just want to keep going for auditions, and hopefully, it will help me pave my way. Things are slowly changing with Raghav Juyal, Mrunal Thakur, and Vishal Jethwa making it to films.”