all of 22 alina padikkil is not just winning hearts as the cute but manipulative wife nayana in her first serial bharya but is a successful tv host as well the trivandrumite started her career as a child as vj in a popular malayalam television channel but says acting is quite challenging admitting that she is nothing like her onscreen character in a quick chat the chirpy actress talks about her journey on screenthe road so farmy tryst with the camera started when i was in class iii i started off as an anchor with the show butterflies and bagged the state award in 2005 for best anchor for that show my love for anchoring helped me bag more shows including just for kids which i started anchoring from class vi and continued till class x asianet is my second home so when i was approached for a serial from the channel i didnt want to say nohowever anchoring is still my first love and i enjoy hosting my present projects like hot and spicy a cookery show and komady circus a comedy programmenayana is a kushumbathinayana is an unconventional daughterinlaw and has shades of grey though she might seem cute she is manipulative she is not a villathi but a problem creator at her inlaws house acting was entirely new for me and quite challenging compared to hosting a show the first scene was nayanas wedding and first night it was a herculean task to act coy and romantic nayana has to hand over a glass of milk to her husband nandan played by actor ronson vincent the shot started at 7pm and ended only at 1030 pm laughs with a lot of takes but now the show has completed more than 200 episodes bharya taught me acting dont act in front of us friends tell me the way nayana hums often in the serial is apparently quite popular im able to do it because i share a good chemistry with my dubbing artist parvathy who dubs for nayana in the serial however after becoming an actress my friends in college dont take me seriously laughs even if i excuse myself from something genuinely they make fun of me saying be an actress in front of camera not in front of us laughs i am a tomboy in real life i am totally opposite to nayana in real life a pair of jeans a top and a pair of sneakers is my dress code off camera as i had to commit to bharya at short notice i would wear sleeveless kurtis and had coloured hair as well but i received good feedback for it that i was a trend setter who broke the conventional marumakal look with several studs in my earsbeing the only child of my parents i was trained in everything including riding a bike which is my craziest hobby my mother taught me how to ride a bike i also love racing cars but i ride