Reena Kapoor. Picture by Aranya Sen

I am immortal,” Reena Kapoor breaks into a smile. The lady who has played both mother and daughter on Sahara One’s flagship serial Woh Rehne Waali Mehlon Ki has responded to three names and been wife to — “let’s see how many husbands,” she says, starting to count on the finger while lounging at a café of a city hotel.

Her first appearance is the serial was as Rani when she married Raj, then she married his lookalike Prince (both played by Arjun Punj). Then came a 20-year leap in the story. Reena reappeared as Pari, Rani’s daughter. Her partners then changed to Soumya (Aamir Ali) and now she is married to Manav (Vinay Jain). “Even these four characters have been played by six men,” Reena shakes her head in mock disbelief.

When the show started, Reena had no idea it would carry on so long (725-plus episodes and counting). “Why, my parents were in talks for my wedding when I playfully went to audition for the role. The day I signed the contract I also got engaged. I got married on February 15, only to rush back for the shoot as the serial was to start four days later.”

More coincidences followed. The new bride reached the sets only to find that it was a wedding that would kick off the show. “Rani’s sister was getting married. Believe me, after my own wedding I was already fed up of heavy clothes and jewellery,” says Reena, who is so wary of dressing up that she avoids socialising.

She did have her wish fulfilled for a brief while on-screen, when her character Pari was in college and therefore could run around in casual clothes. But the TRPs dipped and the producers scampered to marry off Pari. “I suppose every serial has its own viewership. Campus life did not appeal to the more senior viewers of Woh Rehne Waali....”

Right now, Reena does not have to worry about dressing up on the show. Her character has fallen on bad times.

“My screen husband has lost his memory in an accident and has become childlike. He only remembers his first wife who died at childbirth. To support him and his son, I have to give tuitions in the evening, work at a call centre at night and do all the shopping, cooking, washing and cleaning in the morning,” she says, before adding as an afterthought. “I wonder when she goes to sleep!”

Reena admits, though, that there would be women who lead such a life. “Take my hairdresser. She lives so far away that it takes her two hours on the train to reach. Mind you, she has to stay back on the sets till 10pm.”

Reena might be appearing in your drawing room every weekday at 9pm, but at her home the last thing that you’d find switched on is television. “Even the noise irritates us,” she shakes her head. She and her software engineer husband can bear to watch only National Geographic and the like.

On screen Reena has faced two mothers-in-law. “Soumya’s mother was polished and scheming. Manav’s step-mother is a stupid, screaming sort.” What about her own mother-in-law? “Oh, she is a darling,” Reena laughs, “I like bhajans, she likes MTV.”

Would one see Reena Kapoor in a reality show, following in the footsteps of her peers? “I can’t sing, I can’t dance. Why would anyone take me?” she exclaims.