Nausheen Ali Sardar resurfaces six months after junking the title role in Kkusum, the Balaji soap that gave her instant stardom. This time she's playing a character closer to her age. In Ashim Shamanta's Kaal Chakra (Star Plus), Nausheen plays a woman with a colourful past."It's an interesting character with shades of grey. The soap is a thriller -- very different from the usual saasbahu fare," she says.
She admits missing Kkusum, but adds: "I lived that role for two and half years, but later got tired of playing mom to someone who's my age. When the show started, the focus was on a middle-class working woman. Then it became a love story, and eventually a family drama. Before I knew, I was playing mom." Nausheen says it was tough when Balaji replaced her as Kusum: "It was weird seeing someone else playing a role that was so close to me at one point. Mansi (Joshi Roy), the new Kusum, is a wonderful actress and she's doing a great job." A trained classical dancer, she is also contemplating cutting a musical album ("I trained in classical Hindustani music") and has signed a new film. Marriage plans? "I'm actually quite scared of marriage. I may have a boyfriend (actor Vikas Kalantri) but I'm not ready for marriage yet. Let me achieve more in life before taking the plunge," she says with a smile.