Ritu Chaudhary Seth: I am really proud of ageing and I accept it gracefully

Kyunkii Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and Imlie actress Ritu Chaudhary Seth caught up for a conversation with middaycom about work motherhood and moreAfter 23 years in the industry what kind of roles youre looking forward toAfter spending so many beautiful years in the industry I am looking forward to potray some extremely strong characters And for me positive or negative is not the criteria I just want to play strong meaningful charactersPlaying a character for too long gets monotonous as quoted by some TV actors Whats your take on the sameYes if youre doing a character in a daily soap on television and youre playing a character for a few years it does get monotonous You have to continuously look for ways to reinvent yourself as an actor to tackle the character in such a way that you and the audience as well do not find it monotonous and boring to see you everyday on their screens at homeWhats that one genre youre looking forward to work inSo far Ive done majority of work for television so now Im looking forward to explore other mediums because of the style of working an the style if presenting ourselves is completely differentAs an actor whats the one role youd like to play before you retireIts not a character but its a role that I want to play in a beautiful mature and unrequited love story It is one of my dream roles A role that has so many layers many emotions is what I want to doOne message to all the casting directors rejecting actors on the basis of their weight shape and colourI think in todays time your weight shape and colour really has nothing to do with your talent and the character is always larger than all of these So I dont think the casting directors should have any say based on somebodys look because nowadays your it is your talent that speaks more than how you look So I would request the makers and not only the casting directors to give people a chance based on their craft and not based on their looks or how many followers they haveYou have embraced and flaunted your grey hair like a diva What message you intend to give out by doing the sameI am really proud of ageing and I accept my age gracefully I dress appropriately according to me I dont have any problem with my grey hair I accept it completely its a part of growing up I am proud of each and every wrinkle on my face and each and every grey hair on my head I think it shows that I have lived my life fully I have experienced every stage of my life and I completely accept those experiences as I have learnt a lot from them Also I think people should not misunderstand that I will never colour my hair if I get a character which looks a certain way that I have to colour my hair I will definitely do it But whenever I have a choice Im really okay to flaunt my grey hairHow did Kyunkii Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi happen to you Take us through the journeyKyunkii was a very great opportunity that I got I used do a lot of ads when I was in college Even though when I was busy with studies my pictures were in circulation then I got a job in Zee Telefilms But one of the writers of the show got my picture and then he showed it to Ekta Kapoor and she called me in for an audition and one thing led to another and then Kyunkii happened At that time I was really apprehensive about leaving something Ive worked really hard for and trying out something new But my mother and my husband who was my fiance at that time said that very few people get a chance to do something new in life And you always have us to back you up incase it doesnt workout And so did my bosses at Zee they said that you can come back to your job if you dont like it So I took a leap of faith and everything worked out so beautifully and I never had to look back I am very thankful of the universe for giving me that opportunityYou took a break for 78 years after you became a motherIt was a conscious decision of mine that I want to keep everything aside and focus on being a mother to my child I was caught up because of motherhood for almost 56 years And after that I started feeling that I am doing so much but what am I doing for myself as an Individual And in fact without me realising it my husband who said I think Ritu now is the time you start going back to work because I dont feel that youre unhappy but I do feel that youre not feeling complete He was there for me as a pillar of support he used to take care if our daughter do all the work before I come back and thats how I started working again Yes when I was not working for the first two years I didnt really have the time to think but after that there was a void that I had started feeling towards the end of my break