Ashi Singh's new show 'Meet' is breaking gender stereotypes

Ashi Singh

Her dreams to make it on the 70mm screen may not have come true, but Ashi Singh believes that television gave birth to the actor in her. "I was recognised as an actor on television. While [people believe that TV is regressive], I got to explore myself on this medium. All the shows I have done only taught me more about the craft," says the actor, who made her debut with Channel V's Secret Diaries: The Hidden Chapters in 2015, followed by lead roles in Yeh Un Dinon Ki Baat Hai and
Aladdin - Naam Toh Suna Hoga. Singh is now playing the lead role in Zee TV's Meet.

Ashi Singh and Shagun Pandey as a newly married couple in the show

The actor has little patience for society that advocates different rules for men and women. "I have three siblings and my parents, who encouraged me to take up acting, never treated us differently. The rules in my house are the same for everyone. That is why I could relate with the character of Meet Hooda," she says of the show that revolves around a spirited tomboyish woman, hailing from Haryana, who breaks the gender stereotypes by working as a delivery agent.

While the show has intentions of challenging gender norms, it falls prey to another stereotype - that of depicting a spirited woman as a tomboy. The actor retorts, "It's not because she is trying to play a boy. My character chooses to keep her hair short or wear jeans and a shirt to work for comfort and time management. The character's motivations won't change [irrespective of her attire]." With her character Meet now entering a new phase in life as a married woman, we wonder if the daily soap will deviate to being another saas-bahu drama? "She will have added responsibilities, as she has to juggle her home and that of the in-laws. But [the show] will not digress from the core idea."

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