Asit Kumarr Modi Recalls Disha Vakani's First Audition For 'Dayaben', 'She Played The Part And We..'

Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah is the most popular sitcom on Indian Television, and it has entertained households across the country for nearly two decades now. Among other aspects, the unique and relatable characters on the show have been a significant cause behind its success. One such character is 'Dayaben', played by Disha Vakani, whose innocence, beauty, signature "Hey Ma Mataji", and garba moves became a fan-favourite. Everyone has dearly missed watching the character back on-screen after Disha took a break five years ago. Amid the wait, TMKOC producer Asit Kumarr Modi recalled the memories from her first audition for the role. 

Asit Kumarr Modi reveals memories from Disha Vakani's first audition for 'Dayaben's' role 

Disha Vakani had brief stints in TV, films, and theatres before she got the lead role in Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah. The show's producer, Asit Kumarr Modi, recently sat down for an interview with Screen and recalled her first audition for 'Dayaben's role. He admitted that Disha was a wonderful actor, and they briefed her about the character, who will be an innocent Gujarati lady, who cares for her family. Recalling Disha's performance, Asit said:

"When we explained the character to her, our brief was that she is a very innocent lady who looks after her husband, her father-in-law, and her world revolves around her son. Whenever she gets shocked, her reaction is always 'Hey Ma, Mataji!' it's a very common reaction in Gujarat. We were all sitting together during her audition, and when she played the part, we all just loved it." 

The show's crew also planned some nuances about her character. Asit revealed that he took his mother's reference for 'Dayaben's' unique way of calling out her husband from the balcony to remind him about things in front of everyone. Since the producer's mother would do the same thing with his father, and they planned to bring a similar Indian housewife's innocence. Sharing the story behind coming up with 'Dayaben's' unique garba style, Asit Modi shared: 

"During the first episode, we thought of adding garba in the episode when Bapuji snorted; his hip gets stiff; that is when we decided to try to use Garba to rectify his stiffness. That's how the craze for doing garba started. Daya Bhabhi's style of garba was her improvisation. While shooting, we all try to take what is written in the script to the next level."

Asit Kumarr Modi shares that TMKOC actors did workshops to portray their roles 

When Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah began in 2008, most of the actors on the show were new faces. Consequently, in the same interview, Asit Modi shared that he had organised many workshops for the actors during its beginning in 2008 to help them ace their roles. He wanted the whole ensemble to look like members of a real society in Mumbai. Sharing some instances from that time, he said:

"Initially, all the characters used to have lots of workshops because I wanted it to look like a real society. All the artists were new. Dilip Joshi has some theatre experience and is very popular in Gujarati dramas. Due to the theatre, he had good knowledge about improvisations. All others were quite new and had not done a show for a long time, so during the casting, I had one criterion in mind: they all needed to have that innocence."

Asit Kumarr Modi opens up about Disha Vakani's return to the show

Disha Vakani, who portrayed the role of 'Dayaben' till 2018, took maternity leave before the birth of her daughter. But, since then, she hasn't returned, and fans have been eager to watch the lovely character on-screen. When asked about the same, Asit Modi shared that he understands the fan's demand to see her back on-screen. Consequently, they are trying their best to find someone apt to play the role as a team. However, he would prefer that Disha comes back to take up the role and mentioned:

"We can only pray that Disha Vakani returns as the character. She is like my sister, and she has some family duties to fulfil, so it might be difficult for her to return. We miss her even today. She was very sincere and caring towards her co-stars and the team. We hope to find someone just like that."

What do you think about Disha Vakani's casting to play the role of 'Dayaben' in Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah?

Next Read: Dr. Sriram Nene Speaks On Getting Overlooked As Madhuri Dixit's Husband 'My Wife's The Famous One..'

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