Rytasha Rathore: I became aware of my body and that's when I began to love and accept myself

By Ramsha Akhtar

on May 24, 2018

Rytasha Rathore is not your quintessential daily soap bahu, though playing the title role in Badho Bahu fetched her recognition in the Telly world after extensively doing award winning plays alongside some of the best in the business. Rytasha's best known for her comedic sketches on social media called Kaarnamey. Rytasha's debut television show after a hit run for over a year & half has wrapped up & will be off air soon. Rytasha talks to us about her experience & shares about her future ideas & projects.

Your first show, you got to play the titular role. Your character was based on an overweight girl who was nicknamed Badho because of her appearance but is loved by all & is a fighter with a big heart. How much could you relate to the character you played?

I could relate to Badho in couple of ways, though not too many. Her entire background was different from mine. Geographically, socially, and even education wise, it was all completely different. So it was very hard for me to actually relate to her mind space, but as far as being overweight was concerned, I could kind of relate to her. I have also had my fair share of struggles when I was in school. My parents would keep insisting back then for me to lose weight, specially my dad since he is a doctor. So back then it would really affect me, as I would feel a lot more fat, the feeling that nobody loves me and I am not worth it anything would always sink in. But then I went to college and actually learnt how to use my body, became very aware of my body, knew what was going on. And that's when I began to love and accept myself. Badho loves herself and she is awesome, and so am I!

How would you describe your experience working on a family drama show?

Working on a family drama show for me was quite an intense experience. Daily stops are relentless, they are just non stop. Everything is kind of like a pattern. A big family event happens which upsets everyone, then everyone's angry & wants to take action, after which everything gets resolved & everyone is happy, and then again another celebration after which another drama happens. So somewhere it did become a bit monotonous for me, which did eventually become pretty much of a routine, but taught me a lot!

Do you personally feel this show did strike a cord with the audiences? You didn't play the quintessential bahu on television. If given a chance, would you do an out & out family drama soap?

I think Bado Bahu definitely struck a chord with the audience. It was a character that wasn't perfect but so relatable. I mean nowadays everything is so manicured and perfect on TV, so when people see something real they tend to connect more to that bit. And yes if given a chance, i would love to do a family drama. In fact I would love to play a negative role on screen! Wear big bindis, make a lot of over dramatic expressions and roll my eyes! That would be fun!

What kind of genres would you now like to explore on television?

My dream is to host a very informal and female oriented talk show on TV someday. One of those legit talk shows where we can make a difference. Like an Ellen Degeneres or an Oprah, or even Aamir Khan's Satyamev Jayate.