"My proudest achievement is that my nieces, my step-daughter, Chanelle and younger girls in my family want to be like me. I have a successful career and some amount of fame at 25. Yet, I hold my family and home as my first priority. People ask me how I can act in KKSBKBT, which promotes the Pati Parmeshwar culture. It is easy for me to do this kind of role because Zubin Irani, my husband, is my Parmeshwar. He comes first in all my priorities. But I am his Parmeshwar too. I come first in his life too. People say that after a child is born, a woman puts her husband on the backburner because the baby becomes her world. But Zubin is still the number one person in my life, despite the birth of Zohr, my son, a few months ago. I know that Zohr will leave us when he grows up. We both are for keeps. Zohr is one more link between us."

Smriti’s present sure-of-herself avatar, according to her, is new. When she was in her parental home in Delhi, one of three sisters, she was a quiet inconspicuous adolescent. "My parents — my mother is a Bengali and is related to Tripti Mitra, well-known actress of yesteryears — thought that my two sisters would work in my father’s courier business and they’d marry me off to a nice young man, because of my quiet, non-adventurous, unambitious nature," she reminisces, "All that changed when at 16, I began to work in small plays. I gave up my full-time college career, and took a correspondence course for graduation. At eighteen, I told my father that I wanted to come to Mumbai to work. In 1998, I entered the Miss India contest without the knowledge of anyone in the family. I was nowhere near a beauty. So I was surprised to be short-listed and came to Mumbai to participate in the finals. My father was astounded at my decision to enter the contest. No one believed I could make it to the finals. I borrowed Rs 2 lakh from my father on the condition that I would return it. I came to Mumbai and began preparations to enter the final of the contest with earnestness. I had my contest outfit designed and made by Manish Malhotra. It cost me a bomb. I paid my fares to the training sessions and for my food. Eating out, travelling in Mumbai, taxi fares and living alone cost me a lot of money. Unfortunately, I came up to the last round but did not win. I was one of the final five contestants.

Desperate to pay my loan back, I appeared for the Jet Airways hostess interview. Surprisingly, my sister, who also applied, got the job but I was rejected. Then I took a counter job at McDonalds, serving burgers and swabbing the floors and cleaning tables. But throughout these months of desperation, I kept visiting various agencies, doing auditions and portfolios and leaving my pictures at every TV production company. I was present in the Famous Studio in Mumbai for auditions every day but no one took me seriously.

"Then one day, I was chosen to do the black and white commercial for Whisper. Next, I anchored a show called Filmi Batein for In Mumbai and Etc. channels. Shrey Guleri of Prime Channel saw these appearances on television and called me. As a result, I did some episodes of the show called Bakeman’s Oh La La. Shobha Kapoor in turn saw these and she asked me to meet Ekta at Balaji Telefilms. I met her and as time passed, thought nothing was coming through. But one day, I was asked to come over to audition for Tulsi’s role in KKSBKBT I was chosen for this role and the rest, as they say, is history. After KKSBKBT became the top soap in India, my career was made.

"Today, Tulsi is one of the most popular TV characters among millions of viewers. Whatever people say about its story being retrograde in women’s lives today. I think Ekta had a novel idea of exploiting the common saas-bahu conflict, which is evident in every family even today. She planned the presentation of this conflict with needle-fine detail. The media business is all about money. Make no mistake about it. It is not a social service. Fortunately, KKSBKBT succeeded stupendously. A rush of similar soaps followed on all channels. But the original has the ‘early bird’ advantage. Once again now, Ekta is experimenting with this serial. On Saturday, February 16, 2002, the story of the soap jump-skipped to a new generation. This is a pioneering concept and I’ll now act as the mother of two grown-up children. They may be the new protagonists of the serial. I’m going to stay on though I’ll have to play a much older woman with a hair bun and more sober clothes. I canlet down Ekta who made me into what I’m today. I’ll be there whenever she needs me. It is a first ever experiment in Indian TV and I hope it is successful!"

Smriti married her childhood friend Zubin Irani in the midst of the serial and soon after, had a baby boy in October 2001. "I was staying in our Dahanu farmhouse to rest after the baby and we did some shooting there to make our episodes on time. I married Zubin because I needed him. I was consulting him, talking to him and meeting him every day. So we said why not marry and be best friends as well as a married couple. Both my parents and his agreed to our marriage and blessed us. I would never dream of marrying against the wishes of my parents because I believe strongly that hurting parents causes unhappiness and destruction for the couple.

Zubin is ten years older than me and was married before to co-ordinator Mona Irani. They have a daughter, Chanelle. People say to me that career success, marriage, and baby — I’ve done everything at the age of 25! Why not? I have everything that people dream of getting when they are 40. I’m lucky to have Zubin, who is an asset for me. People are surprised that my marriage is so successful despite his earlier divorce. But I’m friends with Mona, his ex-wife and their daughter Chanelle. Their differences are none of my business. My life with him and the two children are my business and I want to do my best."

Smriti was recently asked to audition for the role of Sita in Ravi Chopra’s Ramayana for Zee TV. "I jumped at the chance," she enthuses, "I want to do all types of roles. I’ve done Kavita, Aatish and Manju Singh’s Jaanam Samjha Karo apart from KKSBKBT. I am proud that I return my father’s loan within a year’s time. I’m working hard on losing the weight, which I put on after the baby. I will strive to do the role of Sita with dignity, grace and sensitivity, which are the hallmark qualities of the universally-admired heroine of the Ramayana."