Social Media Has Changed The Tv Space, Says Urvashi Upadhyay

Jyothi Venkatesh

Urvashi Upadhyay made her acting debut with "Hamari Devrani" in 2008. After being in the industry for over a decade, she feels that social media has hugely influenced the TV industry. Talking about how the industry has changed in the last decade, she said, "I remember when I started in 2008, there was no Instagram, in fact Facebook was also very new. It was quite a hassle back then to upload something on Facebook too. So the audience used to get to know about actors through TV shows and chat shows, but now everything is out there, people can watch anything, know anything, with just one click.

So I feel social media has changed the TV space."She further said that now they work in shifts but earlier they had no fixed time for pack-up. "We used to have a call time back then, but there was no fixed time for pack up, because we used to run on a tight schedule. Today, schedules are made according to shifts. Targets are set as per schedules to make it easier for the actors. Those days the stories were weaved so beautifully that every character was equally important and there was a fun element to every character of a show. People used to come to watch a character. But now because of social media everything is out there. News passes on within the flash of a second," she added.

Urvashi is currently seen in TV show "Ishq Subhan Allah". She plays the role of Begum Noorjahan, a music healer, who has healed the lead Zara, played by Eisha Singh, with her music. Sharing more details of her role she added, "My character finds Zara, the lead actress, half dead and helps her recover. Whatever negativity or hatred Zara had in her heart, Noorjahan healed it all through her music. Zara treats Noorjahan like her mother and even Noorjahan treats her like her daughter. So it's a beautiful relationship that they have shown."The "Dil Se Dil Tak" actress revealed that the role of a music healer came to her at the right time as she was trying to cope with the loss of her mother. "I lost my mother last year and it was very difficult for me to move on. So when this role came to me I couldn't say no and in a way the character of a music healer has helped me heal too," she says.

Urvashi has always portrayed a baddie on-screen, and said she was a little scared of portraying a positive character like Noorjahan but took it as a challenge. "I have never played a positive character before. In fact my character in 'Dil Ki Nazar Se Khoobsurat' and 'Ummid Nayi Subah Ki' were both beautiful but very strict. Apart from that all my characters were hardcore negative. Noorjahan is the first positive character I am playing. There were some comments on social media too that Urvashi has always played a negative character, let's see how she plays this one. So my name is synonymous with a negative character.  But I am enjoying this role a lot. As an actor I am very happy that I am able to explore various roles on-screen, " Urvashi signs off.