“It’s an amazing feeling to be a part of the play Nirbhaya” – Rukhsar Rehman

The pretty actress Rukhsar Rehman who has done films and TV is currently seen in a popular show Tumhari Paankhi on Life OK. What is interesting is that she is also part of the acclaimed play titled Nirbhaya where she will be talking about the real life incidence on sexual harassment and violence which she has faced.

The play which was performed in India too last week got excellent response from the audience including some of Rukhsar’s actor friends who appreciated her performance in it. When we got to know of this we got in touch with this talented actress.

Telling us more about the play, Rukhsar said “Nirbhaya is a play which is based on the Delhi gang rape which happened in December 2012. It is a testimonial play which means that the play is based on the real life experiences of the actors who have gone through sexual and gender based violence where they talk about how they have fearlessly fought against the violence they had to face. We have already presented the play in London and Scotland and we have won an award too in a theater festival for it. Many countries are inviting us to present our play and it is a very encouraging feeling.”

Rukhsar too as part of the play has narrated an incident which she had experienced but she didn’t want to elaborate more on it, “In the play I am playing myself. The story will be based on a real life incident which I have gone through. I can’t tell you the incident as I can’t describe it in words. However, it is an amazing feeling working in a play like Nirbhaya. I don’t have words to describe my feeling right now.”

Theatre is not new for Rukhsar who has acted in plays earlier too, “I have been part of the Rangbazz group and have acted in a play called Falsapha with them earlier, but it didn’t get as much response as Nirbhaya.”

She believes that working in theatre is comparatively difficult because one needs to be very accurate as an actor when on stage, “Working for theatre is a bit difficult as compared to television. I don’t say that you don’t have to hard work in TV but when you are doing theatre you have to be very focused as opposed to TV. We also rehearsal a lot for the play but sometimes when you have a huge number of live audience staring at you in the auditorium there are chances that you may get nervous. But as an actor we have to be always be ready for that kind of challenge when it comes to acting. So when Nirbhaya came on my way, I accepted it.”

Currently, Rukhsar Rehman is seen as Lavanya on Life OK’s Tumhari Paakhi, a show which is doing extremely well for itself in terms of ratings and popularity. So, how does she manage her time doing a television show and the play simultaneously? “It’s very stressful for me to do both things – my show Tumhari Paakhi and play Nirbhaya, but I manage to do so because it is a great opportunity which I don’t want to lose. Even my television show Tumhari Paakhi is doing great on Television as this week it managed to get the highest TRP on Life OK. It is like a double treat for me and I am very happy to be part of both.”