Archana Puran Singh and Parmeet Sethi have been married for 33 years, but like most couples, they too faced a difficult phase in their marriage and have been open about it. Recently, on Archana’s YouTube channel, the couple spoke candidly about how Archana made “cheap C-grade movies” to survive and keep food on the table. On the other hand, Parmeet, who found success later in his career, waited for lead roles in the film industry and did not accept suboptimal roles because he felt that it could derail his journey.
Speaking on the channel, Archana admitted, “When I married you, I thought, ‘Yes, it’s me who wins’. But somewhere I had repressed my feminine side, that I wanted someone to provide for me, that I wanted me to lean on someone and admire him, just like my mother admired my father. This was happening inside me. At that time, I didn’t know that this was happening inside me. I must be sending a mixed signal to you too, because sometimes I would say that it doesn’t matter what it is. make money, but sometimes he would nudge you to win and encourage you to turn down projects.”
Archana further admitted to doing C grade movies just to survive in Bombay and keep the kitchen running. “Another mantra of mine is: I never say no to work. Now I have started saying no to some jobs. The result of that was that I did very bad films. I did C-rated films. Because my mentality was to put bread and butter on the table. At that time, I felt that if you had taken a step forward, I wouldn’t have to do that job.”
Parmeet shared his perspective and He explained that he is seven years younger than Archana, That’s why it took him time to build his career. “At that time, my point of view was that your career was already over, but my career was forming, and I thought that if I made one wrong step, then I would be completely out of the industry. I was trying to become the hero for a long time.” Archana argued, “I wanted to become a heroine too.” While Parmeet explained, “But you were seven years older than me and ahead of me in your career.”
Archana later admitted her mistake and reflected on her journey, saying, “I should have remembered that you are seven years behind me. I was thinking that I too wanted to become a heroine, but when that didn’t work out, I branched out, became an anchor, a comic lady, did supporting roles, bad films, C-rated films, cheap films, but I retained my dignity. In all that, if I had not maintained my dignity, I would not have been where I am today.”