For over seven years now, every Saturday morning Arsh Mehrotra has brought smiles to the faces of the viewers of her popular TV show Aap Ka Manoranjan.
Her trademark smile and Namaste greeting have become an enduring New England tradition. Few guess that behind that charming smile lurks an innovative, creative mind that is constantly searching for new ideas to make her program more appealing and enjoyable to her loyal viewers.
Clad in a stylish nylon top and black cropped pants, the petite Ms. Malhothra talked to us over steaming cups of Chai in the bright sunroom of her home in North Andover. I had my list of questions and the tape recorder ready and throughout the interview, was pleasantly surprised by her candor and wit.

“The acting bug bit me when I was very young” reminisces Arsh “ My parents recognized this and encouraged me in every way that they could. I acted in a couple of films as a child artist, one of them being Miya Biwi Raazi” Growing up in Bombay Arsh learnt to sing, dance and act and had a shining presence on stage. When she won the female lead in a talent show organized by the ,United Producer’s Filmfare Talent contest ,movies were an obvious follow up. Incidentally the male lead was won by Vijay Arora, the popular film and TV actor of Yaadon Ki Baraat and Bikram aur Betaal fame.
Arsh went to act in ‘ Phool Aur Insaan, Maanavta and Sarfarosh Udham Singh

While busy with these activities, Arsh also acquired a degree in Economics and a Bachelors degree in Education, as “a teachers’ profession was considered the most suitable, for women in those days. My parents were practical enough to insist that I arm myself with a college degree. I say that to my children now, a proper educational background is very important. It is something to fall back upon if nothing else works out.”
“Well, there were other offers and opportunities” she smiles, but another important role beckoned her. That of a loving wife and mother. She married her childhood sweetheart Anil Mehrothra and moved to Nigeria where he worked as a Mechanical Engineer. Arsh, Anil and their two children, Ashmi( now working at JP Morgan) and Amit( a student at Babson College) moved to the US in 1987.
While working part time and full time jobs, the thought of a career on stage or screen was never far from Arsh’s mind. “ I never really liked working for anyone but myself, I always thought like an entrepruneur, in Nigeria I ran a day care center for children in my house.”
She yearned for an avenue for her creative and acting skills. Aap ka Manoranjan was conceived, thus, and in 1992, Arsh began broadcasting the variety show on Channel 62 Sunday evenings.
“ At the time, I was looking for a partner to share the responsibility and onus of running a TV show. Air time is very expensive and post production costs can run very high, I was a little hesitant at first. It was a big step and I was not sure if I could do it alone” Go it alone, she did and Aap ka manoranjan went on to become one of the most watched desi TV shows in New England. “ In retrospect, I am glad it worked out this way” Says Arsh “ I ended up doing this on my own steam, on my own terms. I don’t have to answer to any one, I can let my creative juices flow.”
After six months, her show , having gained a lot of popularity, moved to Channel 27. "The folks at 27 were very good, I went on to work with that station for a good eight years. This year, I had to say good bye to them because their new policy does not allow non-Spanish programs at peak times. They offered me odd hours, early morning, late night etc, but I declined. Now I broadcast at WTMU CH.32 and WWDP CH.46, every Saturday from 8.30 AM to !0AM.
I ask her if New England is ready for more TV shows, if the region was big enough to support more shows or if it would take away from the quality of shows already on air. “ If this were New York or Toronto, my answer would be yes, lets have more such shows. But this is Boston, unless all the shows were equally good and on par with each other, in terms of quality, there will be no competition, only a dilution of the audience.”
On being asked if Anil was a creative contributor to her endeavors she laughed “ Anil is a big part of my show, the business end is handled by him but the creative part is all mine”
About the screening of Hindi films in the region, she says, “We started leasing Bombay cinema in 1996.Jan, the first movie we screened was Aamir Khan’s Akele hum Akele tum. Last year has been bleak, what with the earthquake in Gujarat, film prints were scarce and it affected many people screening films. The next few months look very busy here are many good films being released and I’m sure Bombay cinema will be crowded every weekend. We have Na tum jaano na hum with Hrithik and Eesha, The mystic Masseur, The legend of Bhagat Singh all releasing soon. Devdas too.” She beams.
Arsh has been bringing star shows to the area for a while now, we ask her about star shows, about stars and request her to share an interesting anecdote with us.
“ Star shows are a lot of hard work, I do like bringing them to the fans in Boston. The last one with Aishwarya was well organized and a big hit! On July 19, we are bringing Hariharan, the popular playback singer, o the region.”
“ One interesting anecdote comes to mind, about Karishma’s visit to Boston some time ago. We got held up in traffic and reached the airport late to pick Karishma and her mother Babita up. They were left waiting at the airport for about half hour and when we reached there, Babita was a little displeased. Karishma, on the other hand was understanding and very sweet. I have met many stars and interviewed them but she is the sweetest, simplest soul. Aamir Khan, Sah Rukh, they are both very friendly and soft spoken, the only actor who put on airs when visiting the region was the then new comer Urmila Matondkar. But you get used to these people and their fragile egos.” She laughs.
I had heard that plans were afoot for the Mehrotras to produce a film.” Yes that is in the works” Arsh admitted, “ I am still looking at a script, this will be an English film based here in the US. It will not deal with the immigrant issues that all the Indian films made here lately are doing. It will be an out and out love story. I am a die hard romantic at heart!”
I ask her what her advice she would give to someone who wants to achieve the kind of success she has, in her field.” I do everything from my heart, I give it my all. As a TV show host I try to follow my heart, my instincts and it has worked for me well. Also, whatever it is that one does, TV, Radio, Music, Academics, only hard work will bring long lasting success. Believe in what you do, enjoy what you do, do it with passion and you will win in the end.”

We thank Arsh and as we leave, she calls out “ Remember to watch my show and keep in touch.”

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