'I was very reluctant to take on this role'

"I feel great to be associated with 'Balika Vadhu'. It is such a privilege to be associated with a cult show like this. I could never imagine that I would be part of such a show," Anjum said.

Anjumu00a0Farooqi with co-staru00a0Shashank Vyas

'Balika Vadhu' was first aired on July 21, 2008 and the main story revolves around Anandi, now played by Pratyusha Banerjee. In the show her husband Jagdish leaves her and marries Gauri, played by Anjum.

The actress says she is glad that the audiences have accepted her character.

"I am really glad that the audience has accepted my character. I was very reluctant to take on this role. The audience knew and loved Anandi and Jagdish and this was a challenge for me," she said.

The entire cast of 'Balika Vadhu', except Surekha Sikri, who plays Dadisa, were present at the event, where Laxmi Sargara, a victim of child marriage, was also felicitated.

Married when she was only a year old, Sargara has now legally annulled her marriage. Talking about her shooting experiences with her co-star Shashank Vyas, she said that both of them have high tempers and that they often end up arguing in reality.

"Shashank and I fight on the sets many times. While pretending to fight during our scenes, we sometimes start fighting in reality. Our tempers are so high at that time that we fight even if the other person makes a silly mistake," she said.

Actors Smita Bansal and Anup Soni feature in the show as Anandi's in laws.u00a0