Aatish Kapadia: I cannot use past tense for Vaibhavi

Vaibhavi Upadhyay

While the second season of the cult show Sarabhai vs Sarabhai didn't garner as much love as the first instalment, one character managed to stand out: Jasmine, played by Vaibhavi Upadhyay, Khot nath kehti. On Tuesday, Upadhyay died in a road accident in Himachal Pradesh's Kullu district while travelling with her fiance. Mourning her untimely death, Rajesh Kumar, who played Rosesh in the popular show, said, "She was a mountain girl, although she is from Mumbai. I realised we had common friends after I met her on set. She had some of the toughest tongue-twisters in her dialogues, but Vabhavi would know them by heart after one glance and perform with absolute confidence. She had a photographic memory. Off camera, she loved listening to PJs; humour was her strong point."

Sharing that she had a "girl crush" on Upadhyay, co-star Aishwarya Sakhuja shares that she knew of the actor through her actor-husband Rohit Nag. "I found her super attractive." I would always tell Rohit that she was my girl crush. The little interaction I had with her intimidated me, especially after I saw her craft. Vaibhavi was intelligent and well-informed; you could speak with her about anything under the sun and she would have an input. I [will always] remember her as this beautiful, vibrant person."

Aatish Kapadia, Aishwarya Sakhuja, Rajesh Kumar and Deven Bhojani

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Director-actor Deven Bhojani who had the pleasure of directing Upadhyay said, "Not a lot of people could do justice to the character of Jasmine the way she did". "After a lot of auditions, we unanimously found our Jasmine in Vaibhavi. Any new actor joining the set would find it difficult, but Vaibhavi was friendly from the get-go. She was a brilliant actor who made my job as a director easy. She was confident, polite, humble, and ready to learn. She understood my need for reactions and gave me exactly what I was looking for [in a scene]. Maya Sarabhai [played by Ratna Pathak Shah] says this dialogue: ‘Yeh sochti Gujarati mein hai, translate Hindi mein karti hai, and bolti English mein hai." And that is exactly what Vaibhavi was doing. She justified the character so well that Jasmine became one of the major highlights of season two," said Bhojani, who played Dushyant in the sitcom.

"I cannot use the past tense for her," says writer-director-actor Aatish Kapadia, who had initially noticed Upadhyay in another audition. "I was mesmerised by her performance. The élan and confidence with which she performed stayed in my mind, but the show never got made. When we were [casting actors] for the character of Jasmine, she was my first choice. We had some great scenes together. She was confident enough to stand up to goliath actors including Satish Shah, Rupali Ganguly, Ratna Pathak Shah, Sumeet Raghavan, and Rajesh Kumar. There cannot be another Jasmine."

Also Read: 'Sarabhai vs. Sarabhai' actor Vaibhavi Upadhayay dies in a car accident in Himachal Pradesh