Actress Anuja Sathe started her career as a theatre artiste and later become a known face in entertainment, and she was seen playing the role of 'Ashraf' in Season 1 of web show 'Ek Thi Begum' and now the second season is also going to start in which she will be reprising her on-screen character.
While in the first season saw 'Ashraf' as a loving wife turning into a most wanted criminal, the narrative of the first season followed the life of Ashraf, whose husband Zaheer (Ankit Mohan), once the confidante of underworld don Maqsood (Ajay Gehi), got killed. 'Ashraf' adorns the alias of 'Sapna', a bar dancer and orchestrates a plan to kill everyone responsible for the murder of her husband. In the second season also, she is continuing her mission and to keep her identity hidden she disguises herself as 'Leela Paswan'.
On this transition, Anuja said: "From a docile housewife to learning how to load and fire a gun, this is a story of a woman who was unbreakable. Despite physical blows which would destroy another woman, 'Ashraf's never say die spirit keeps her going and that is a quality I will take back with me. She is not your run-of-the-mill female protagonist, she is not righteous, her ways are illegal at best but in her own way, she carves a niche for herself, and she is real which makes her all the more relatable," says the actress known for her role in daily soaps like 'Tamanna' and 'Peshwa Bajirao'.
She adds on the positive response she got from the audience for season one: "With all the positive feedback I received for season 1 and the audience's high expectations, for me, the challenge was to take this role notches higher. 'Leela Paswan' aka 'Ashraf' will always remain one of the fiercest characters in my career", adds the actress.
Directed by Sachin Darekar and Vishal Modhave, this series also stars Shahab Ali, Chinmay Mandlekar, Vijay Nikam, Resham Shrivardhankar, Rajendra Shisatkar, Nazar Khan, Hitesh Bhojraj, Sauraseni Maitra, Lokesh Gupte, Mir Sarwar, Purnanada Wandekar and Rohan Gujar in pivotal roles.
'Ek Thi Begum 2' streams from September 30 on MX Player.