Why a 23-year-old Sahher agreed to play mother to a 33-year-old on screen

When a female actor reaches a certain age in showbiz, she begins to portray the mum or sister of the same hero with whom she had previously romanced onscreen. Female artistes faced a different scenario than their male counterparts, who continued to portray starry roles well into their 50s. But, things had changed — or so we thought.

However, it comes as a surprise when we see actors like Sahher Bambba, for example. The 23-year-old was recently seen in the show The Empire, playing the role of a mother to an older male actor.

Ask her if people around her dissuade her from ageing on screen, and the actor nods: “I actually did get a lot of such advice when I had already signed on for the show and started shooting for it. They said, ‘We thought you are cast opposite Aditya (Seal, actor), and not his mum’. But after seeing the reviews and how the show did well, I think that [everything is well] and that’s all that matters [to me].”

But probe her on why she said yes to the part in the first place and Bambba says, “I always wanted to be a part of a period drama. Even when I was just seeing the entire set up and how they were going to mount the show, I was just very excited to be a part of it. Even when Nikkhil sir (Advani, producer) told me, ‘You have to play mother to Aditya Seal’ who is older than me, it didn’t strike me,” admits the actor.

She adds, “I was getting to be a part of such a show on this massive scale, so it was yes from me.”