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EXCLUSIVE: We grew up on Hum Paanch set; Had affairs & breakups, Ashokji took care of us: Bhairavi aka Kajal
In an exclusive chat with Pinkvilla, Bhairavi Raichura aka Kajal Mathur of Hum Paanch, recounted her growing up days on sets, how Ashok Saraf, Shoma Anand helped them and some hilarious moments. Don't miss.
Hum Paanch, Ekta Kapoor's first project, returns to television sets from April 13th on Zee TV. The show was a hit amongst masses then and is still considered one of the landmark shows for Indian Television. Amid lockdown, as the show returns to TV, we exclusively spoke to Bhairavi Raichura who played the iconic role of Kajal Mathur (popularly called Kajal Bhai). Bhairavi played Kajal with such finesse that it is still considered one of her best performances. An excited Bhairavi told Pinkvilla that she is extremely excited about this and with that, "A lot of memories from the show came to me because that is when I kind of started my career."
Bhairavi is an introvert and shy girl in real life. To become Kajal Bhai, she indeed went through a lot of training. Recounting those days, she shared, "I remember when I first met Ekta Kapoor and Kapil Ji (director), I was all of 16 and had gone to meet them in a pretty frock. There was no audition, nothing, they just called me and told me that I am doing this role. Later, I got to know that they had this character in mind, about a girl who is petite but who behaves like a Bhai. Her attitude makes her a Bhai and not her personality. I don't know what made them cast me but when I started, I did not know how to do it."
She laughed off, "There was no reference, I had never seen a character like that in real life. There was one associate director who was from town, he and Kapil uncle used to teach me how to talk, walk. So, I underwent rigorous training." She further recalled that since she was a shy girl, it was an extremely difficult role to pull off. "Then, of course, there was Ashok uncle, who is the king of comedy. He taught us a lot of things."
She recalled how during the initial episodes, she would start talking like a girl and would have to give retakes. "In the initial episodes, there were retakes and reminders that 'hello, ladke ki tarah baat karni hai'. Back then it was not like a daily soap that you are working every day. It was only like 8-9 days of work in a month, so it was tough earlier to get into the skin of the role but Ashok sir would remind me, 'beta bhool ja tu ladki hai'".
Sharing an incident that really embarrassed her, she mentioned, "Once, we were shooting outside the bungalow and there were 2-3 trucks that passed by and they actually stopped and saluted me saying 'Kajal Bhai' and it was unbelievable. It was a little overwhelming and embarrassing as well, to be honest. For a 16-17-year-old, it was a little embarrassing."
Recounting a day on the set of Hum Paanch, Bhairavi said, "Hum Paanch was something that we all looked forward too. It was the show where we all girls started. The call time was for 9 AM but I used to reach 10 mins prior to shooting because I would take 5 mins to get ready. I had to only wear a cap and jeans and a shirt. I remember sometimes I would wear my black jeans from home only (laughs). We used to then sit for rehearsals and readings and then do the scene."
Reiterating what Rakhi Vijan shared, Raichura elaborated, "During the lunch breaks, we had to sleep. We had two rooms in the bungalow, but we used to sleep in one round bed, which was so tacky looking. Then again work and would pack up by 9 PM. I remember there was no mobile then, so we used to communicate with the landline we had in the bungalow."
"We all grew up on that set. I remember at that time, we had our affairs, our breakups, and Ashok uncle would take care of us as a father. Not only him, his wife would also take care of us and console us. Even Shoma aunty would," she recounted.
Given that Ekta had started off as a producer with Hum Paanch, Bhairavi revealed that they all shared the nervous energies together. "Ekta would come on sets, and we used to discuss scenes. "I remember there used to be two cameras, one was the master, another closeup. We did not have lapel mics or anything. In fact, back then there was no Balaji office, she had set it up in the garage of her bungalow and we would sometimes even shoot there for office sequences. I remember I met Jeetu (Jeetendra) uncle recently and we were talking about this."
Lastly, she said that she would love to collaborate again if a third season for the show is planned.
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