Ayesha Jhulka quashes reports of fallout with Manisha Koirala, says they ‘did a lot of shows together’

Actor Ayesha Jhulka featured in Prime Video’s Happy Family Conditions Apply as Pallavi Dhokalia. In a recent chat with Hindustan Times, the actor opened up about her character, her real family and much more. Also read: Happy Family Conditions Apply trailer

Happy Family Conditions Apply is based around a dysfunctional family as four generations stay under the same roof and keep finding themselves in situations that are both relatable and hilarious. It stars Ratna Pathak Shah, Raj Babbar, Atul Kulkarni and Sanah Kapoor, among others.

Ayesha Jhulka tells us about her role as Pallavi, wife of Ramesh Dholakia (played by Atul). “Pallavi is one binding force that holds the family intact. She ignores a lot of things and doesn’t want this family to have any split or discomfort. All of our families have that one person,” she says.

Is she an anchor to her real-life family as well? “I think I am; that is why it is relatable and thought I would really fit into it. It was a different kind of pleasure to be a part of the series because we don’t often see such amazing, light-hearted yet meaningful shows. I am really lucky to be a part of this,” she said.

What does Happy Family with ‘conditions’ mean to her? Ayesha shares her take, “We take families for granted. Back in our minds, we know they are always there for us. Not five fingers are alike. Not everyone in the family is going to be up to the mark for you. Conditions that apply are clear; there are so many things that we have to accept, and you still have to make sure we have to stay together no matter what, who says what or how. It applies to all families.”

When asked if Ayesha also has any conditions in her family, she neither denied it nor accepted it. “There are no conditions. It just inherently happens. The conditions are just for the outsiders or onlookers to see that there are shortfalls or shortcomings. But how we cope with it makes it a happy family. When I was shooting for the series I realised sometime we have to stop and give a little special time to our elders, and family members no matter even if we have to go out of the way,” she said.

The actor went on to share a fond memory from the making of the show, which took place during their outdoor shoot in Matheran. “All of us stayed at a hotel, which was entirely booked by our production house. After packing up around 5 pm, we used to sit together for dinner. Aatish Kapadia and JD actually tell us about their life experiences. Slowly it became like a laughing riot every evening. All of us started looking forward to it, it was hilarious. It used to be 3-5 hours of dinner. I personally enjoyed it a lot,” she recalls with a big laugh.

Ayesha further moved to talk about International Women’s Day. While earlier in March, several actors spoke about women’s empowerment, many also pointed out how women sometimes don’t stand for each other. Ayeshasaid, “We are humans, we have various emotions. We feel jealous and envious. We may have some grudges. But I personally strongly feel that we should support each other. I’m sure it is easier said than done. But I believe the world should be a simpler place. Anyway, we have inherently a lot of stress around us, time has changed, and life is moving faster. I really believed we need to support mankind, in every good deed. I work with a lot of women so I feel a woman when she feels weak must know her strength.”

Speaking about the need for women to support each other, back in the 90s female actors were pitted against each other. One such old report still doing rounds claims Manisha Koirala went against Ayesha Jhulka, speaking ill of her. Was it true? Ayesha clarifies, “No, I haven’t heard of any such report. In fact, we have done a lot of shows together. See I will tell you something, the reports of women being pitted against each other, maligning, backbiting, and catfights, it was portrayed more by the others than we ourselves.”

“You see in Hush Hush, we’re so many women. It’s an entire women cast, even behind the camera there were women. So there’s nothing like that. We worked wonderfully, we never had any kind of problem. In fact, we enjoyed it more because our sensibilities matched. It is more of a creation than rather it’s happening,” she further said.