Archana Puran SinghThe first television show, Mr Ya Mrs, aired on Doordarshan in 1987, proved strangely prophetic. Directed by Jalal Agha, the drama tells the story of a working woman married to a family husband, played by Jayant Kripalani. Just a year later, Archana met the actor Parmeet SethiShe married in 1992. In the early years of their marriage, when Parmeet was still trying to establish herself in the industry, Archana became the main breadwinner of the family – just like her character in the show.She also revealed that one of the real-life conditions she made before agreeing to marry Parmeet ended up appearing in his directorial debut Badmarsh, which was released in 2010, nearly two decades after their marriage. The film stars Shahid Kapoor and Anushka Sharma lead.She told Screen, “Parmeet founded Badmash. When Shahid proposed to Anushka, she said the same thing, ‘I will never enter the kitchen and I will never put a wet towel on the bed.’ “That was my line,” revealed Archana. “I still won’t go into the kitchen,” she added, still wearing her trademark grin.Her refusal to cook is a recurring theme in the family video blog she shares with Parmeet and her sons, Aaryamann and Ayushmaan Sethi.Although Archana is now widely regarded as one of the most recognizable comedy faces in television, Archana recalls how difficult the first day of filming the 1987 comedy Mr. Ya was.“My first scene on the first day was stirring up Kadhay. Jalal asked me to make it interesting. Today, I can find a hundred ways to make it interesting, like the back of my hand. At that time, I had no clue,” she confesses.To deliver the scene, she relied on exaggerated expressions, thinking that was what comedy needed. However, director Jalal Agha quickly corrected her approach.“I made some faces because that’s what I thought comedy was. Jalal said, ‘Stop! Comedy is not making faces, Archie!’ I felt bad. He was yelling at me. No matter what I could do, I couldn’t do it anymore,” she recalled. “This quote has always stuck with me. I learned comedy on the job. Every day on set, I realize what makes something funny and unfunny. I keep learning. But my first day was terrible,” she admits.Arcana said that although she began her career in comedy roles, such opportunities faded away once she became a permanent cast member. Kapil Sharmacomedy shows including Comedy Nights with Kapil, The Kapil Sharma Show and most recently The Great Indian Kapil Show on Netflix India, where she now stars alongside Navjot Singh Sidhu. While audiences came to associate her with her infectious laugh and playful banter on the show, she found that even after memorable performances in successful films like Rohit Shetty’s 2012 entertainer Bol Bachchan, opportunities in film and TV shows became scarce.However, this year marks a new chapter in her acting career. After impressing audiences as the unpredictable main villain Rajkumar Rao As well as Sanya Malhotra’s dark comedy thriller Toaster airing on Netflix India, Archana will be back in a completely different avatar. She will next be seen playing a domineering and controlling government official in Biswapati Sarkar’s campus comedy series Adarsh Baal Vidyalaya, which premieres on Prime Video India on July 24.
