Neha Choudhary (BOMBAY TIMES; September 20, 2019)

After shooting for more than nine months in Jaipur for Main Bhi Ardhangini, Deepshikha Nagpal bid adieu to the show. Her role Mahamaya has come to an end as the makers have introduced a new track featuring a mongoose, to be played by Rohit Bakshi. Yesterday, the cast and crew of the show threw a farewell party for Deepshikha.

Talking to us, the actress said, “I was informed around a week ago that my character is coming to an end. It didn’t come as a shocker to me because I understand that it’s a daily soap and makers have to try out new things to keep the audience glued to the show. They have introduced a nevla (mongoose) track and Rohit Bakshi has been roped in to play the role. It has been a beautiful journey. This was for the first time that I shot outside of Mumbai for a daily soap for such a long time. While shooting for films, we go for outdoor shoots, but this was the longest.”

She has been missing Mumbai and is eager to return home. “I’m waiting to get back home. It’s not easy living outside Mumbai, away from your family,” she tells us.

What’s next? The actress will be going on a solo trip to catch up with old friends later . “I will be going on a one-week trip to Bali which has been pending for a while now. Also, I will be catching up with my old friends before I get busy with work again,” she said, adding “I was approached for a comedy show a while ago, but I was busy with Main Bhi Ardhangini. I couldn’t be a part of that. I want to do a comedy now.”

The Khoon Bhari Maang actress reveals the reason behind her two decade self-imposed hibernation.
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 16, 2015)

Sonu Walia is last remembered for her role as Salma in Hema Malini's directorial debut, Dil Aashna Hai, which released in 1992, and the memory still brings a fond smile on the actress' face. She reminisces about how awe-struck she was by the Dream Girl. Then, the sexy Miss India with a psychology degree, disappeared - suddenly, inexplicably - popping up in occasional TV serials like Mr Mintoo and Betaal Pachisi.

Then, she faded out of our living rooms too, only to reappear in her own living room in a high-rise in Goregaon 18 years later, looking slim, willowy and serene despite having just co-produced her first film, Jogiyaa Rocks, with brother-in-law, Vineet Sharma, who's also its writer and composer. The musical, which traces the success story of an Indian rock star, a Freddie Mercury lookalike, popular TV star, Rohit Bakshi, alongside Kirti Kulhari and Suzanna Mukherjee, is looking at a year-end unveiling.

Prod her on her disappearing act and she admits she's been globe-trotting... From Boston to London, down South to Australia and finally, back in Mumbai. And it all began with a meeting in 2000 with Surya Pratap Singh, a US-based hotelier, for a project that never took off. But they were engaged within a month and married a month after that.

"He used to joke that he would get married a day after me. It took me a month to figure it out," she laughs, adding that when she first came to Mumbai, Surya Pratap was living in the ground floor apartment of the building where she had her third floor PG digs. "Then, he was a guest lecturer at the institute where I was studying. But our paths never crossed and when I did meet him, love beckoned. And I was happy being away from the arclights," she asserts.

Interestingly, her husband, who wasn't much of a movie watcher, not even those featuring his wife, suddenly developed a passion for cinema and went on to finance four films and produce a couple down South. "He even acted in two and was one of the fastest storywriters I've met. He would get an idea and write the story in two days, the screenplay with dialogue would follow in a fortnight. I was a part of his creative process but never felt inclined to act. I would joke that after the three Khans took over from Dharmendra, Kabir Bedi and Vinod Khanna, there was no scope for heroines who were too tall," she laughs.

And then the unthinkable happened. Her husband fell ill. They went through all the tests, except one. And his kidney gave way in 2010. A distraught Sonu went to Australia to be with her mother and sister and has no memory of the next two years. Then, with help from Vineet, she started working on the film they had prepped for before her husband's untimely death.

Her hero happened to be living in her own building. She would see him stepping out of his car but was clueless about the fact that Rohit was an actor till one day she found him chatting with Vineet in her living room. "The film is a musical love story written by Vineet with my inputs on the female perspective. And we have already started scripting the next film, an action love story," she beams.

And what about acting? Sonu admits that she's been offered Punjabi films, a couple of Hindi films too and TV serials, one really big. But busy with her film, she was not inclined to give the nod. What if Rakesh Roshan, the director of her debut film, Khoon Bhari Maang, Hema Malini or Mani Ratnam, whose Thalapathi featured her in an item number with Rajnikath, came to her with an offer? "Then, I might find it hard to say no," she smiles. "But for the moment I'm happy making movies of my own."