Bollywood News & Gossips

I’m a good girl like Shruti

She won over the celebrities and viewers alike in the recent Star Screen Awards by her ‘Thank You’ speech. Her grace, her charm and her obliging spirit left everyone spell bound as she became the most charismatic speaker of the night. This precocious 12-year old child wonder who displays the maturity of a teenager charms you with her talk. Meet the winsome and articulate Shweta Prasad who amassed critical acclaim and appreciation for her challenging roles in Makdee and Iqbal.

Shweta who gives the credit to her mother for recognizing her acting talents when she was just four years old feels that there have been several turning points in her life. “For me each and every project that I undertake is like a new lesson. It’s a new chapter of my life. I’ve learnt so much from Sakshi Aunty (Sakshi Tanwar of Kahani Ghar Ghar Kii (KGGK). Also, Shabana aunty helped me immensely while shooting for Makdee and likewise all my projects were a learning experience. I have to remember what I’ve learnt in the past and learn new things with new people both in the present and the future,” she says.

Shweta started her acting career with Balaji Productions’ Star’s chart buster (KGGK), “I used to mime my favourite actors in front of the mirror and if I was enacting an emotional scene I would squirt water in my eyes. My mother (who is a scriptwriter) noticed me and realized that I’ve the talents to make it big,” she recalls. After almost two and half years, she gave auditions for television serials and it was then that she got her big break in the Ekta Kapoor daily. Besides, she has also done cameo roles in Sony’s CID. “After Kahanii…’s year leap when Ekta aunty (Ekta Kapoor) informed me that I will no more be a part of the Agarwal family, I was very heart-broken. In fact, I even cried,” she says. Soon, serials like Kutumb, Karishma ka Karishma and Magic Make-up box followed.


Shweta who claims to be a spontaneous actress can easily relate herself to ‘Shruti’, her reel-life portrayal of Parvati’s daughter in KGGK. “I’m a good girl like Shruti,” she beams and adds further with gleam in her eyes, “I’m very obedient and a good daughter. But I can also connect myself easily to Makdee’s Chunni where I play a prankster as I’m also very naughty. I play a lot of harmless pranks with friends and I really enjoy doing so.” Shweta doesn’t like the ‘celebrity status’ that her friends give her. She feels many of them have changed after she got into acting and that makes her feel very uncomfortable. “Some of my classmates who earlier hardly even bothered to see after me are all of a sudden trying to become my bosom friends. A few of my teachers are also rude to me though I’m good at studies. To be really honest I’ve lost several friends as I entered this new profession but a few are still holding on to me and I know that’s true friendship so I’ve no qualms about losing anyone…,” grieves Shweta who’s also contemplating changing her school.

Shweta has moved off from the small screen and aspires to be a celluloid star. The child prodigy who has already won scores of film awards for her performances in movies like Makdee, Iqbal and Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi (VLHTA) is waiting to be re-launched again after her studies are completed. Ask her how she landed up the plum role of the twin Chunni-Munni in Makdee and she replies instantly, “I had auditioned for a film called 'Barf' for Devgan production, Vishalji was present during the screen test. Unfortunately, the project got canned but Vishalji offered me the central character in the movie that he was planning to make.”

Shweta is still basking in the success of VLHTA and cherishes the memorable moments she shared with buddies Shahid Kapoor, his kid brother Ishan and Amrita Arora. “VLHTA was full-time masti as the movie was based on children. I share a good friendship with Shahid and Ishan and we also happen to be family friends. We exchange messages and also meet occasionally,” she says. But for Shweta her most memorable moments have been on the sets of Iqbal. “I remember the buffaloes on the sets which we needed for one of the scenes. And man, you won’t believe they had created a chaos there. We had so much fun…I can never forget it,” she chuckles adding that, “Iqbal is close to me for another reason. I got to learn sign language and it’s a boon for me. Now I can communicate with not only those who can speak and hear but also the mute and deaf,” she beams.

Shweta rates her performance in KGGK as one of bests and also favourites, “There was this scene where my character (Shruti) is angry with her mother, Parvati for leaving her and she becomes so upset that she flings a vase at her mother. I tried to visualise how I would react if my mother were to leave me. This is my best scene till date,” she says. So why is it that she doesn’t want to turn back to television again? “Till I was in class sixth, television was fine as I could adjust with my school timings but now that I’m in class eighth I don’t want to compromise on my studies. We have loads of homework and project works now and television’s chaotic timings would not allow me so much of time luxury. Another reason is I’m myself not really interested in getting back to television,” she answers.

Shweta is a book-worm and loves to read illustrated English classics. “HG Wells, Agatha Christie, Mark Twain and Jules Werner are amongst my favourite authors.” She confesses that she doesn't like comics and finds the Ramayana interesting, "It touches the heart”, she says. For Shweta watching television is a fun and horror shows and action flicks are her favourites. “I am very fond of Cartoon Network. I also watch Kahaani... Terminator 2 and after that I think Edward Scissorhands, Jurassic Park, Matilda and recently Scooby Doo. I love watching horror and action movies.” But as far as Bollywood movies are concerned, she feels most of them are typecast. “Most of them have the same old story, except Devdas (which she watched because of the Bengali culture),” she laments. She grooves to Britney Spears, Ricky Martin and Backstreet Boys and doesn't mind remix albums of Hindi film songs either.

Ask her if there is a role she is dying to play and pat comes the reply, “I’m a greedy performer and I would definitely want to do different roles in different kinds of movies.” And, what about her dream project which she might want to grab when she re-launches herself? “It has to be a combination of Daniel Radcliffe as my co-star and Stephen Spielberg as the director. It would be a magical moment for me.”