http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1158887

DNA India
April 7th, 2008

Ragini Khanna talks about getting on the small screen the hard way in spite of being related to the actor

She’s young, sprightly and talented. “I have trained in classical singing and probably every form of dancing for the past 15 years. In fact, I was all set to cut my own album. But one fine day I just woke up to modelling,” Ragini Khanna said jokingly.

She only had to make up her mind and that set the ball rolling. Today she boasts of doing 40 commercials after which, “I said to myself, ‘enough of ads’. I decided to do something concrete this time and started auditioning for acting assignments.”

This was the most difficult phase of Ragini as she experienced the infamous life of a struggler.

“I attended innumerable auditions and I was rejected in all of them. There were cases where I was almost selected but was rejected in the end. At last I pencilled in for Deeya-Tony’s Radha Ki Betiyaan Kuch Kar Dikhayengee (on NDTV Imagine),” she said.

It must have been a cake-walk for her considering her family background, “I would sound thankless if I said no. My uncle has been my guideline because I know what to do and what not to do from him. I have never asked him to speak to anyone for me but yes, it’s a small place and people know that I am his niece. Yet, I didn’t tell anyone about this fact before signing the show.”

What is the kind of bonding she shares with her mama? “He’s like a father figure to me and treats me like his daughter. He’s an extremely chilled out person. What I like best about him is that he will never stop your spirit but would like you to go out and experiment. He’s been extremely supportive of me. He doesn’t watch much of television but Sunita mami follows my show regularly. Once he caught up on one of my episodes on her insistence and later called me up saying ‘you are the child in our family who will keep my name as an actor’. I was touched by the compliment.”

Today, Ragini is trying to prove her uncle right “My work is getting a lot of recognition. But credit is due to all the cast and crew. We are so bonded now that it’s a blast just being on the sets. The comfort level is great and it shows on screen.”

Also on the anvil is a film with newcomer Kumar Sahil, “The film is undergoing some changes in the script. But it’s definitely happening. I am keeping my fingers crossed.”