Even otherwise Rakhi has been in the news, largely because of her frequent walk-outs from serials like Baat Ban Jaaye, Padosan, Awaaj Ki Duniya. Now making news for better reasons, this vivacious, sometimes naughty, young actress has joined hands with her husband to produce a TV serial Heena (Sony) under their own banner, RT Entertainment.

In real life she is quite different from what she is on reel life. When we decide to meet her at her Lokhandwala office at 4.30 pm she is there on the dot alongwith Rajeev and when she speaks she doesn't shoot her mouth off, but chooses her words carefully. She is quite candid: everything, that's happened, she claims, happened accidentally. "I've never had to struggle and I've never planned things. I never thought of acting as a profession though I was doing a bit of modelling and I was spotted by Anand Mahendroo and landed up in Dekh Bhai Dekh," says she. Rajeev is all praise for his wife. "Rakhi is my 50 per cent partner. She is helping me a lot in production. I'm good at creative work, mainly the script, and she takes care of the nitty gritties," he explains. Rakhi says that she is just an employee working for her boss! "I'm probably learning not even working," she sighs. She's always been interested in business as her father was a businessman. "With my husband's permission I went to his office andhe was sweet enough to give me a cabin and chair, but I hate to be called a producer," says she.

If you've seen Rakhi on the tube, you'll notice she is anything but businesslike. She usually plays a dunderhead. But in Heena she plays a negative character named Ruby, a double-faced, vengeful, scheming woman. She says she is doing this role not because its her home production but she actually suits the character. ``The character of Ruby is amazing. It's been specially written for me. After playing the dim-wit types this is a great challenge for me and I'm getting a chance to explore myself as an actress," she claims grandiloquently.

But as an actress, doesn't she feel bad that she has done only similar types of roles and all the offers coming her way are for comic ones? "In the industry there is a bad habit of bracketing people''. Vijan explains how Navneet Nishan after Tara is getting only negative roles -- the problem is no one is ready to experiment.

And what about Hum Paanch? "It's definitely one of the best comedies and the attitude over here is jo chal raha hai woh chalne do. I feel let it die its natural death" she quips.

In career spanning six years, she has appeared in other serials too: Parampara, Baat Ban Jaaye, Padosan, Awaaz Ki Duniya. She doesn't want to talk about Parampara or Baat Ban Jayee, though she alongwith Nikki Aneja has returned to Baat Baan Jaaye. "Now, don't ask me whether I had a fight or why I came back because I'll just say `No comments''', she laughs uproariously.

It was during the shoot of Padosan that she got married and couldn't adjust her schedule to the serials which is why she opted out. She believes that after marriage it is important to devote time to your home. As for Awaaz Ki Duniya, the song show on STAR, she admits quite honestly that the channel authorities felt that she was just too loud.

And the future? She has no resolutions or strategies as everything in her life, good or bad, has happened on its own. She suddenly remembers that her meeting Rajeev was also accidental. They met in a typical Hindi phillum style. One day, while driving down Linking Road in Mumbai, she almost banged into Rajeev's car and they exchanged words. After a month they met on the sets of Mr.Mintoo of which he was the episode director and he frowned at her saying she was a killer-woman! "I was impressed. It was during the shoot that we started seeing each other and we got-married in 1997," she recalls fondly. ``But even today when I want to go out, Rajeev tells me politely and ever-so-sweetly, `why take the trouble of driving - take the driver along' and I take the hint''!