‘I Was On My Way To Becoming A Great Tragic Actress': Ratna Pathak On How Comedy Saved Her
Ratna Pathak Shah opened up about how being a part of comedy projects saved her from becoming a tragic heroine.
New Delhi: Actors Ratna Pathak Shah & Ayesha Jhulka who are starring together in ‘Happy Family Conditions Apply’ were recently promoting their upcoming show in the city. During their interaction with Sneha Menon Desai from Film Companion, the actors opened up about the importance that female actors receive today, the initial years of their respective acting journeys & many more things.
Ratna Pathak Shah opened up about how being a part of comedy projects saved her from becoming a tragic heroine. She said, “I was on my way to becoming a great tragic actress. Thankfully, Idhar Udhar happened and I was relieved of this weight of becoming this ‘great actress’, aspiring to do Lady Macbeth. It gave me the chance to learn a skill.” According to her, acting is very skill dependent, like good speech, ability to perform with your body, etc. “I had very few of those skills, and I needed to learn them. Comedy gave me the chance to acquire those skills.” Further, she states that she's "thankful & deeply grateful to Anand Mahendroo (producer-director) because he was the first person who thought I was capable of doing it."
Talking about the changing entourage culture in India, Ratna expressed her displeasure, “I really can't stand this. What does it do except make you even more self-focussed, self-absorbed?" She recalls, "I have seen actors on a plane who won't even ask for a cup of coffee. The coffee is brought by the assistant. What are you, a 3 month old child, that you can't even hold your cup?!" When asked if there's a way out of this, Ratna says, "I've seen several good actors who have been adversely affected by this 'entourage business'."
With today’s changing narratives of how the industry in perceiving women characters and how Ratna & Ayesha have experienced it for themselves, we definitely want to see more of them on-screen in the coming days.
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