Women should fight back: Rani Mukerji

Talking about the characters she has played, Mukerji said that since she didn’t grow up in a bubble, real people have often been references for the roles she has opted for, including her girl-next-door character in Aiyyaa (2012). “That said, Mardaani gave me that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play a cop,” she said, “We all go about our lives, too busy to think how hard the police works so that the city doesn’t witness a blast every day. The patriotism we celebrate a few times a year, they live it every single day,” she said.

Mukerji hopes that her character in Mardaani, Shivani Shivaji Roy, will also encourage women to fight for their self-respect, be it against eve-teasers or abusive husbands. She also wants parents to sign their children up for self-defence classes.

The scope of the discussion, however, wasn’t limited to the inspiring on-screen characters and included their off-screen lives too. Mukerji recounted how her father, a film producer, wasn’t happy with her decision to take up acting as a career. “My aunt, my mother’s sister, was an actress, so my mother always encouraged my dream of becoming one. But my father told my mother that he’d allow me to do films only if she accompanied me on every shoot, and she accepted that,” she said.

However, the first film offered to Mukerji — Aa Gale Lag Jaa opposite Jugal Hansraj —  was turned down by her father as she was only 15 then. But after a few years, the family went through a financial crisis. Another offer, this time for Raja Ki Aayegi Baarat, was made to her and in order to help the family out, Mukerji took it up. “Aamir then recommended me to Mukesh Bhatt who cast me in Ghulam. That film helped me bag Karan Johar’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. I have not looked back since,” she said.

The actor has had a taste of both, success and failure in equal measure; more than once her career was said to be over. However, she has managed to prove people wrong. “Dil Bole Hadippa and Aiyya flopped but I chose to stay focused instead of blaming others for the failure. That’s because I didn’t take my success too seriously,” she said.

For a detailed report, grab a copy of Screen’s next edition that hits the stands on October 10.