Sonal Vengurlekar says, ‘Mahesh Panday treats everyone like a family and makes all of us feel special’

Sonal Vengurlekar is currently seen as Jaya in Madhu and Mahesh Pandey’s “Gupta Brothers: Chaar Kunware From Ganga Kinaare”. This is her second show with the producers after “Yeh Vaada Raha”, and she said that it’s like a homecoming for her. The actress also appreciated Mahesh for treating everyone like his own family and shared that he is a father figure to her.

“Mahesh sir is in such a big position, but he has never let any of his actors feel that. He treats everyone like a family and makes all of us feel special. He always calls me ‘beta’ which makes me feel so good. He is like a father figure for me. Be it a small or a big project, he always calls me, and it’s very rare in today’s time. I just wish that the bond that we have stays strong, whether we are working together or not. You won’t find people like him, especially in Mumbai,” she said.

“Gupta Brothers: Chaar Kunware From Ganga Kinaare” revolves around four brothers – Shiv, Alok, Veeru, and Rajat, who don’t want a woman in their lives. Sonal plays their neighbour who falls for Alok and does everything to woo him. The show is a dramedy, and features Hiten Tejwani, Akash Mukherjee, Satya Tiwari, Meet Mukhi, Parineeta Borthakur, and Rinku Dhawan.

This is her first comedy show and sharing the prep work she did for the role, she said, “My character has a decent level of comic lines, so as preparatory measures I borrowed experiences and situations from real-life people. I connected with my friends over video calls to ask for their atrangi moments in life. It was surprising to know that we all have this comic side in us, which knowingly or unknowingly comes out either in form of words or expressions.”

During the lockdown, Sonal faced financial issues and took to her social media to share that instead of a production house, who owed her money, her makeup man offered to help her during the tough time. After her post went viral, a lot of her fans offered to help her. Sharing her present situation, she said, “Thankfully the situation is better now. Only when I explained my situation to the world, the producers started paying me in installments. Unfortunately, I had to tell the world about my situation for producers to realise it.”

The crisis also made her think about a second source of income, she said, “I want to have another source of income and I am trying to figure that out. Having experienced a very stressful situation, I do not want to rely only on acting. Many actors have multiple or joint business ventures and I would like to do the same.”