The line between real and reel-life was often blurred between Ankita Lokhande and late Sushant Singh Rajput's characters 'Archana' and 'Manav' when the TV series Pavitra Rishta started airing in 2009. The show went off air in 2014 and leading man Sushant shockingly passed away last year on June 14.
As the new season of the show Pavitra Rishta 2.0 is all set to release, Ankita, the actress, ex-girlfriend and co-actor of Sushant, says she is trying to keep the memory of Sushant alive through the show and she believes that Sushant must be feeling proud of her. Ankita told a leading daily, “I have been living Archana for 12 years. I was never out of the character, I definitely feel that because I have loved Archana so much, that it was very easy for me to become her."
About starring with Sushant in the first installment of the show, she said, “We created something which was very organic. With Sushant and me...logon ko magic dikha (people saw the magic), because it was there. Of course, when I started shooting for Pavitra Rishta, Sushant was there everywhere, in every scene. Shaheer jab aata hai set pe (When Shaheer comes on the set), because he is in that get-up that I have seen Sushant playing for so many years. It’s very emotional but I just feel that he is there. He is watching all of us,” she added.
On the first day of her Pavitra Rishta 2.0 shoot, Ankita says she was a little tense. “I remember I was nervous because I did not know how to go back on the sets of Pavitra Rishta and start playing Archana again. It was a little difficult but I was okay with that afterwards when I started shooting and met the whole team. Everyone was very nice and welcoming.”
Ankita recalled how Pavitra Rishta 2.0 came to life after a meeting with producer Ekta Kapoor. Ekta wanted them to work together again and Ankita suggested a Pavitra Rishta reboot. “Because this was my show... Mujhe nahi chahiye tha ki 5 saal baad koi aur Pavitra Rishta kare (I did not want someone else to do my role in Pavitra Rishta five years later), I would have been very angry,” she said.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
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