Three decades into her career, Smita Bansal still feels butterflies before stepping onto a new set. “I get extremely nervous,” admits the actor, who transitioned from lead roles to character parts with Balika Vadhu (2008). As she gears up to play the head dean in 108 Base Hospital: Uri, Bansal speaks to mid-day about choosing finite television, embracing mother roles on screen, and why the medium needs a revamp. Excerpts from the interview.

We have been saying that content on television is becoming repetitive and needs a change for long. I believe finite series have more to offer. You get to work more on your character because you know the story from the beginning to its end and there is a proper graph. The story doesn’t change every week because of TRPs. It is also a challenge for the writers to keep the audience hooked for years. When I started doing TV [in the 1990s], we had finite series and weekly shows. That’s why I support different kinds of work coming in.

I shot The Pyramid Scheme while filming Bhagya Lakshmi. My issue is that TV wasn’t offering enough weekend programming. We have limited content during that slot. But 108 Base Hospital: Uri is set in a real space. Even though it is a medical drama, it focuses on the real challenges army doctors face, rather than only the human side.

What will work and what won’t is something no one has really understood. When Balika Vadhu was made, we had no idea how people would receive it until the first week. Audiences become used to a certain kind of content, so it becomes easier for them to accept it. Even if she gets married several times or is kidnapped often, the audience stays invested. I think it is a collective responsibility to [move with the times]. By the time a new-format show is launched and begins finding acceptance, the makers have already decided to pull the plug. You have to give audiences the time to develop a taste for something new. They should also demand better content and reject stories that don’t make sense. TV needs a revamp.

When I moved to character roles with Balika Vadhu, it happened organically. Even after the leap, the decision wasn’t difficult because the show was hugely popular. Lead actors spend 14 to 16 hours on set and work almost 30 days a month. I was entering motherhood and didn’t want to stay away from my child for long. So, stepping away was a conscious decision. There’s a reason behind playing mother on screen. After the hero and heroine, the mother is usually the most prominent character in a TV show. There’s also the factor of screen age. After Balika Vadhu, it would have been difficult for audiences to accept me in much younger roles.

Our producer, Samar Khan, comes from an army background, so he made us aware of everything we needed to know. It’s not that we underwent intensive action training, though I’m sure Erica [Fernandes] and Gashmeer [Mahajani] did that too. We learnt army etiquette, basic gun handling, and combat. We were also trained in how doctors and nurses interact in a hospital. A doctor was present on set to teach us how to hold medical instruments and follow the correct procedures. We also watched medical documentaries to ensure there were no technical errors.