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I agree, he's completely self-centred and after all that's happened with them it's obvious he's not going to change because he doesn't think there's anything wrong with it. I think she regrets them getting back together.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dazzle
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Stunning Corrie star Shobna Gulati is about to strip to her undies for some of the soap’s steamiest-ever scenes.
Millions of fans will be on the edge of their seats as Shobna, who plays married Sunita Alahan, tumbles into bed with lovable gambling addict Karl Munro.
The passionate affair will complete Sunita’s transformation from dowdy mum to sex bomb but filming the scenes has not been easy for Shobna.
In fact, the night before filming the sex scenes the nervous 45-year-old was *terrified and in floods of tears.
She revealed: “I cried at home the night before, just thinking about it.
“It wasn’t just the idea of getting undressed, it was the kissing and the fact that there were going to be people in the room while we filmed it.”
Shobna has struggled with her body image for years and says her insecurities over her shape and size only added to her nerves before filming.
She said: “It was a closed set but there was still a camera man, a sound man, a cable man and someone from costume.
“And you know there is the director and other people watching on the monitor. It makes you feel very shy.
“I’ve done a film before where I’ve been completely naked but this was very *different. That was a short film and I was never really going to see those people again, *whereas I’m working with these people again the next day.
“And, because it’s Coronation Street, it’s going to be watched by millions of people.”
She was so worried that she confided her fears in John Michie, 55, who plays Karl.
She explained: “A lot of it was to do with how I feel about myself, which added to the anxiety. I have concerns about my body and I will always have concerns and I did tell John because I think he needed to know.
“He’s new to me and I’m new to him so I just needed him to know that I was absolutely petrified.
“In the story Karl and Sunita are in a hotel room together. The viewers will only see little glimpses of it, but my dress came off which was quite scary and I end up just wearing my underwear.
“I really had to psyche myself up to do it. As I sat there waiting to start I did have tears in my eyes because I felt so scared.
Snogging
“Generally I will find a friend to practise my lines with ahead of filming but I didn’t with these – no way. I read them on my own and then we just did it on the day – you can’t practise snogging someone.”
Rovers Return barmaid Sunita – who has been neglected for months by *distracted husband, shop owner Dev – has already stolen a drunken kiss from Karl when he collected her from the police station. But their affair is about to hot up.
And while Shobna doesn’t necessarily approve of Sunita’s fling, she says she does understand her behaviour. She also *confesses that, in the past, she hasn’t always been faithful in relationships.
“I am old enough to have made *mistakes,” she admitted. “To me it’s *something you do when you’re young – you start going out with one person and then you want to go out with another and the two cross over. That has happened.
“We’ve all done it. Somewhere down the line we’ve all told lies and said things that aren’t correct. But now, looking back on all that madness, I wouldn’t do it again.
“Now I don’t know if an affair can ever be justified, to be absolutely honest, it’s betrayal. It’s terrible and it’s going to end in tears for everyone concerned. I’m very tough about it – it is wrong.
“It even feels awkward when I’m filming it – as though I’m actually cheating on someone myself.”
Shobna, who grew up in Oldham, Lancashire, married at 23 but the *relationship broke up after a year. By 28 she became a single mum and has single-handedly raised son Akshay, now 17.
Sexy
She admitted: “It’s been hard bringing up a child on my own but without a partner it can be easier in some ways. I don’t have to negotiate with anyone else. I decided the way to raise him – it’s my rules.”
Shobna met someone in July but has no plans to tie the knot. She smiled: “He’s a really nice person and I’m having a great time. It’s new for me to be involved more seriously with someone.
“I think he likes me too but I haven’t thought about marrying him – not yet anyway. It’s not something I consider, *although I’m not ruling it out.”
Shobna’s happy home life is a welcome relief from her trials as Sunita.
Sunita has felt increasingly *isolated as she and Dev, *preoccupied with golf and business, have grown *further apart and clashed over the behaviour of Amber, his daughter from a previous relationship.
Shobna explained: “Sunita can’t *understand why Dev doesn’t notice her anymore. He just bumbles along. He sees her as the mum of his kids, not as a woman or his equal.
“He laughed at her when she got her job in the Rovers and doesn’t listen to her. Karl has seen something about her that she longs Dev to notice. He thinks she’s sexy.”
But Karl has his own problems having stolen the weekly takings from the Rovers, run by partner Stella Price, and blaming a burglary. He then gambles it all away.
Things get even worse when a bailiff turns up at the Rovers and Stella, played by Michelle Collins, 51, throws him out as she learns of the extent of his debts.
He visits Sunita for *sympathy but as Dev has taken the children away on holiday and they have the house to themselves, the couple end up romping on her sofa.
One upside of her screen fling is that Sunita’s Coronation Street wardrobe has had to be completely revamped to reflect her transformation from plain mum of two to sexy vamp. And Shobna admits she has loved every minute of it.
“It’s been amazing because it’s made me feel really good,” she said candidly.
“And I think the boys in the cast and the sound department and on the crew have enjoyed it too.
“I’m definitely getting noticed a bit more. I get wolf whistles and I get the men saying: ‘what’s she got on today?’”
She revealed: “It’s been the same in the supermarket. For the first time in my life, guys want to come and say hello. And it’s all: ‘aye, aye, Sunita, all right then?’ But a little bit of attention doesn’t go amiss now and then. It’s been very empowering to celebrate my body a bit more.”
The decision to change her look was a joint one between Shobna and the Corrie wardrobe department.
“We agreed that Sunita had to change from her smock tops into a woman you would believe was ripe for an affair,” Shobna explained.
“When she’s behind the bar she looks quite different these days.
“Although I don’t think the tops are *actually low-cut, I think my breasts are just large. Anyone else wearing them would look *normal and I just look busty but there are worse things in life!”
Shobna, who made her TV debut in 1997 as Anita in Victoria Wood’s *acclaimed comedy series dinnerladies, joined Coronation Street in 2001.
Before acting she worked as a dancer and away from the cobbles she still likes nothing more than choreographing local theatre and dance groups. Currently she is helping out with two community projects – the Tower Theatre group in East London, helping them stage a play for the Cultural Olympiad – a competition run by the RSC for local theatre groups to stage Shakespeare plays.
And she is also running free Bollywood dance workshops as part of the Alchemy Festival in the Clore Ballroom at London’s Southbank Centre on April 15.
She also thinks she would like to chance her arm in Hollywood one day but, for now, she is relishing the prospect of her spicy new storyline. Not that all her family will be thrilled.
She grinned: “It’s not a romantic *relationship. It’s all about sex. It’s sofas and hotel bedrooms and alleys – anywhere they can get 15 minutes together.
“If they can do it, they’ll do it. I don’t know what my mum is going to say!”
Corrie has been shortlisted at the Soap Awards. Vote at www.britishsoapawards.tv
People
For those who cannot wait
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Who is she trying to kid
Quote:
She revealed: “I cried at home the night before, just thinking about it.
“It wasn’t just the idea of getting undressed, it was the kissing and the fact that there were going to be people in the room while we filmed it.”
Shobna has struggled with her body image for years and says her insecurities over her shape and size only added to her nerves before filming.
She said: “It was a closed set but there was still a camera man, a sound man, a cable man and someone from costume.
“And you know there is the director and other people watching on the monitor. It makes you feel very shy.
“I’ve done a film before where I’ve been completely naked but this was very *different. That was a short film and I was never really going to see those people again, *whereas I’m working with these people again the next day.
“And, because it’s Coronation Street, it’s going to be watched by millions of people.”
And there was me feeling sorry for her reading that she was nearly crying whilst filming the underwear scenes!
Coronation Street's Shobna Gulati has admitted that she thinks Dev and Sunita's future together looks bleak.
The actress told What's On TV that despite her character's recent proposal, the couple's relationship is not as strong as it once was.
"I think Sunita has gone off Dev, she most certainly has gone off him," she explained. "But does she still love him? I don't know. I think that's yet to be revealed."
Following her character's affair with Karl Munro, Gulati said that Sunita is still very confused and unsure of her actions.
"I think Sunita's in very many minds at the moment, she's made this choice but we don't know where she's going to go next," she said.
has admitted that she does not share the ambitious dress sense of Coronation Street alter ego Sunita Alahan.
Writers have recently transformed Sunita's appearance to coincide with her affair with Karl Munroe.
The tight-fitting dresses. I am quite embarrassed and sometimes I bang my head against the Rovers bar and wonder what I'm doing."
However, she added: "I think I have a new-found confidence from it.
"She says the most outrageous things to Karl. I've particularly enjoyed moving into the Rovers as a barmaid."
The 45-year-old was last month awarded 2012's Rear of the Year prize along with John Barrowman.
She also quit Twitter last month after receiving racist abuse.
Shobna Gulati has admitted that she does not share the ambitious dress sense of Coronation Street alter ego Sunita Alahan.
Writers have recently transformed Sunita's appearance to coincide with her affair with Karl Munroe.
The tight-fitting dresses. I am quite embarrassed and sometimes I bang my head against the Rovers bar and wonder what I'm doing."
However, she added: "I think I have a new-found confidence from it.
"She says the most outrageous things to Karl. I've particularly enjoyed moving into the Rovers as a barmaid."
The 45-year-old was last month awarded 2012's Rear of the Year prize along with John Barrowman.
She also quit Twitter last month after receiving racist abuse.
Coronation Street's Shobna Gulati has admitted that she finds real-life romances difficult to maintain.
The 46-year-old actress, who plays Sunita Alahan in the ITV soap, also disclosed details of her most recent off-screen relationship.
"I don't go for the right men, that's my problem," she told The People. "I'm just rubbish. If it was a school subject my report would read, 'Rubbish at boys. Must try harder!'"
"To be honest I haven't been in love yet," the star further divulged. "I've told people I loved them and I must have loved them in a way but I've never really been in love."
Gulati claimed that her last boyfriend had an ulterior motive, recalling: "I thought our relationship was serious but I don't think he was really in it for me.
"It was more about what he wanted to get out of it, with me being in Corrie. I'd love to spend all my life in my pyjamas. I'm not showbiz and I think that was a difficulty.
"We had a good time and I don't regret it. What I should do really is when the alarm bell goes, don't ignore it. I should listen. I'm quite childlike and I am a bit naive. I take people at face value."
Her Weatherfield character Sunita - who brings up children with shopkeeper Dev - recently had an affair with gambling addict Karl Munro.
Coronation Street star Shobna Gulati has announced that she is leaving the soap.
The actress's character Sunita Alahan will bow out next year, and show bosses have promised an "explosive exit" for the Weatherfield mum.
Gulati is hoping to explore other career opportunities after making her departure, including spending more time on her comedy writing.
In a statement released on itv.com, the 46-year-old commented: "I have loved playing Sunita but, having played the role originally from 2001 to 2005 and then returning to Corrie four years ago, I really feel the time has come for me to focus on other aspects of my career.
"I had always told myself I would see my son through school, and I have done that. Comedy writing has long been a passion of mine and the commitment to a show like Corrie is huge and doesn't really leave enough time to concentrate on other projects. I'd love to be able to combine my writing and acting career in the future.
"Playing Sunita has been a fabulous opportunity. I've thoroughly enjoyed her journey and am looking forward with excitement to her dramatic departure. I shall miss her. That said, I have made a host of friends [in the] cast and crew - friendships that will stay with me."
Sunita has been at the centre of a big storyline this year, setting up home with Karl Munro (John Michie) after the pair cheated on their respective partners Dev and Stella.
Coronation Street's producer Phil Collinson added: "It's been a pleasure to work closely with Shobna these last few years. Sunita's mid-life crisis and the disintegration of the Alahans' marriage has kept Coronation Street viewers on the edge of their seats for the past six months.
"It's sad to lose such a well-loved and brilliantly played character, but it provides an exciting storyline opportunity and the writing team are already looking forward to developing a brilliant exit story for her.
"Viewers can expect something very memorable. We of course wish Shobna well in everything she does next."