Young girls as middle-aged wives

Thanks to the time leaps in scripts, most actors on Indian television have to be adept at playing characters that are at least double their age.

Take Vaishnavi (Meera of Ek Ladki Anjaani Si) for example. Despite being barely a few years the elder to Kanchi Kaul in reality, she convincingly portrays a middle-aged single woman struggling to make ends meet, with an unwed pregnant daughter in tow. She now appears desperate to get out of that image though.

If the grapevine is to be believed, she wants to sing for ace composer Sunny Vishvanathan! Moreover, she has also prepared a new portfolio, which has her in stunning Western outfits. Any takers?

While Manasi Parekh, better-known as Chandni in India Calling got married on-screen barely a week ago, the 20-something tied her real-life nuptial knot only a few months ago. She kept her groom Parthiv Goel, a well-guarded secret until recently.

Quizzed about Parthiv, an upcoming singer who became very popular in Sa Re Ga Ma a few years ago, Manasi said, "I live with my in-laws in a joint family and am very happy. Parthiv and I share a number of common interests, music being the major one. The only reason I did not share this with you earlier was because I believe that your work life should always be separate from your private life."

Saumya Tandon (Rusty in Aisa Desh Hai Mera) had a bad fall the other day on the sets of the serial.

A scene, being shot at Kamalistan Studios, required her to run down the stairs. While doing so, she slipped and came crashing all the way down.

To put it in her own words, "This scene had me coming face-to-face with Samay (Gaurav Chopra) and it was raining heavily. I was struggling with my dupatta and an umbrella at the same time. In the shot, my dupatta flies off and Gaurav comes to my rescue and returns it. After this, I run away from him and start coming down the stairs. All I remember is that I crashed to the bottom of the stairs!"

Saumya fans will be glad to know there was no major injury, only an injured back, a nagging pain and a few scratches. But you gotta give it to Saumya for commitment. She was back at work the very next day… that too for a sequence in Taandav.

First, it was plain-Jane Prachi Desai. Then came the mind-blowing Mouni Roy. Now it seems to be time for another Ekta Kapoor discovery -- the promising Pallavi Subhash.

While both Prachi and Mouni were newbies in TV, Pallavi has been around for some time on Marathi TV. Playing the lead role in the new show Karam Apnaa Apnaa, Pallavi will share the screen with Roopa Ganguly, (Draupadi Mahabharata) Salil Ankola, Apara Mehta (Savita from Kyunki...), Sumeet Sachdev (Gautam from Kyunki…) and Geetanjali Tikekar (Aporna from Kasauti…).

Pallavi will play Gauri -- a loveable middle class girl from Kolkata, who puts her family's interest before anything else in life.

Here's more dope on Karam Apna Apna. After Nach Baliye, Rajiv and Delnaz Paul are all set to play couple on television. The lovey-dovey couple is back on screen, for a change playing their real-life role in reel life. They are paired opposite each other for the first time in Karam Apna Apna.

As Rajiv says, "Delnaz and I worked together the last time in a serial called Parivartan where we shot together for just two days. After Nach Baliye, people wanted to see us together and this offer was too good to resist."

Any Balaji offer is, right?