Ratna Pathak Shah cuts Satyajit Ray's films, Sholay and Bollywood down to size

One of actress Dina Pathak’s most memorable performances was as the disciplinarian matriarch, Nirmala Gupta, in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s 1980s’ classic Khoobsurat, which has inspired Shashank Ghosh’s film by the name, starring Sonam Kapoor and Fawad Khan. Released last Friday, the new Khoobsurat has Dina Pathak’s daughter, Ratna, playing a role inspired by the one her mother played. Ratna Pathak Shah’s Nirmala Devi Rathore is an unsmiling and stern lady who spends most of her time on screen glaring at different people.

It’s a bit of a shame, because Shah is among India’s most gifted actors. A graduate of the National School of Drama, the best of her performances have been in theatre, but she’s also appeared regularly in television serials. When it comes to Shah’s film credits, the list is less impressive. Barring a few films, like Mirch Masala, Shah’s appearances, particularly in commercial cinema, haven’t done justice to her talent.

In an interview to Rediff,   Shah discusses the dearth of good roles for aging actresses in Bollywood. “They can barely write a good part for Deepika Padukone, so how are they going to write a good part for me?” she asks.

“I get very few roles compared to Naseer,” she says, referring to her husband, Naseeruddin Shah. “Things will hopefully change, and women will be thought of as live and interesting human beings, not stereotypes. Until that happens, we have to make do with whatever we get.”

As is obvious from her filmography, Shah has been doing just that. Khoobsurat is the third time we’ve seen her play the role of a mother who contributes little to the plot. She had previously played the Imran Khan’s mother in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na and Ajay Devgn’s mother in Golmaal 3.

However, being part of mediocrity hasn’t made Shah lower her standards. She’s opinionated, clear-headed and doesn’t shy away from pointing her finger at those she considers deserving of criticism. Talking about recent hits, the actress asks, “Why are we so happy with Kick and Humshakals? Why do we tolerate this? Aren’t we educated, intelligent people? This is not entertainment, at least not to me.”

However, it isn’t just popular sex comedies with negligible intelligence and Salman Khan starrers that the actress finds intolerable. Shah goes on to describe Satyajit Ray’s films as “barely tolerable”. What about Sholay, a favourite among so many Bollywood fans across the globe? “I was thinking, if I were a French person watching this (Sholay), what would I make of two grown men behaving in this manner? It was deeply embarrassing,” says the actress.

It’s not a casual observation. Shah has thought her opinion through and this is obvious when she explains why she finds Sholay a disappointment. “It’s a series of stereotypes and borrowed ideas from films from all over the world, mainly American, of course. And we are still singing praises of that film. What kind of self analysis are we doing as a filmmaking nation?”

Read the full interview of Ratna Pathak here.