"My acting school was my balcony" - Sandhya Mridul

Courtesy: IndiaFM

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

You might remember actress Sandhya Mridul for her riveting performances in movies like Page 3 and Saathiya. Sandhya kicked off with television and soon landed in movies. Everyone knows about her blunt nature and acting capabilities, but very few people are aware about the fact that the actress took acting training from her childhood days. Actress Sandhya shares her childhood memories with IndiaFM.

Sandhya was born and brought up in Delhi. She grew up with her two brothers. Since her childhood she was raised like a boy and not like a girl. "I was one of the boys in the family. I was a complete tomboy when I was a kid. I went and cut my hair like Vinod Khanna, so everybody in my building used to call me Khanni. I used to play chor police. But after the movie Parvarish I wanted to play a thief, not police because Vinod Khanna was the thief in that movie." She recalls.

Coming from a lawyer's background family, her parents expected her to be in law profession but Sandhya showed her interest in acting from her childhood days itself. Sandhya reminisces, "I used to practice at my balcony when I was five year old kid. I used to shed fake tears and put dupatta on my head like Meena Kumari. Even in my school I was involved in dramas, singing and dancing competitions. Because of that I used to do many things at a time and couldn't focus on acting, which was my prime passion. I had never been into any acting school. My acting school was my balcony where I used to furnish my dialogues. Amitabh Bachchcan's drunken scene from Amar Akbar Anthony was one of my favorite and I stuck lots of band-aids on the mirror for that drunken scene. So I think I was little abnormal as a child. It's because I took it seriously that I am here today."

Sandhya's father Mr Mridul had never treated her like a girl. He was an open person. And he always thought that Sandhya should be equal to the boys. There was nothing that they can do which she couldn't do. So she had a carefree and liberal childhood. Actually an independent childhood by an extremely supportive family! And as a result of this there was big a problem at her school. Sandhya was never scared of her teachers. "My dad was a judge of the high court and I wasn't scared of him. Then there was no reason for me to get scared of my teachers. I was not rude, but if something went wrong I used to stand up and showed my disagreement. I am a very vocal, straightforward and blunt person but not rude", she adds.

Talking about one funniest moment of her childhood she says, "It was when we all went for my father's judge felicitation ceremony and I was six year old at that time. All the senior dignitaries were present. And at the time of the ceremony I was so excited that I started dancing on the song Mungda. My father was so embarrassed that he screamed saying 'please take her away'. My father was felicitated as a judge and there I was dancing and singing on Mungda imitating Helen perfectly. So I was a shocking child that way and very unpredictable".