Although the need or demand for a lead actor and actress will never fade in the Bollywood film industry, character roles have also become popular and more importantly they are very integral for the script.
As Frederick Douglas, the famous abolitionist, said: "power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has and it never will." You need the truth, and you also need a demand, and you need to bring that demand into the realm of electoral politics. If you don't do that, it's very hard to get such an entrenched machine to move.
You could say I'm a character actress. Or maybe a character actress who does peculiar, interesting lead roles.
I liked the character very much and even in general roles like this entice me. I started my journey in Punjabi film industry with negative roles, and then gradually comic roles and situational comedy fell into my kitty.
Music is a very integral part of the film, but it will not be as full of music as a Bollywood film.
You could say I'm a character actress. Or maybe a character actress who does peculiar, interesting lead roles. Does that make sense?
Some actors come to casting and ask me, "Didn't you see my previous roles?" We do not work with actors like this. Their previous roles do not matter; I need the actual work with an actor in this particular character that has been written in our script. What matters is flexibility, believability and efficiency of an actor.
I'm a character actor and that's what I do. All the roles that I've had have been mainly support roles, because character actors don't usually get the lead in movies. It rarely happens.
In the 1980s, there was no category to stick me in. 'He sounds too smart' is what I was hearing. I realized that I had to become a member of the school of what I call 'ugly acting.' Which meant I wanted to do what Dustin Hoffman did very successfully: to play character roles, but lead character roles.
If we talk about character actors they are always in demand. Actress like Aruna Irani will always be needed in a script.
Bollywood is there; the film industry is thriving, and it's huge, and it's everywhere. Anytime I travel abroad and I say I'm an actor from India, they're like, 'Oh, Bollywood!' And I say, 'Umm, not yet!'
I feel you need a big film to be seen but then, you also need to do something where you get to perform. Only then the industry notices you and gives you more chances with different kind of roles.
In Bollywood, the film's stakes are as high as the actor. In Hollywood, they are way above, and the day we realise this in our industry, we will start appreciating actors.
Our Bollywood industry works in such a way that when an actor is seen in a gangster's role, he is offered similar roles.
I will be working with Akshay Kumar in the upcoming Raghava Lawrence film 'Laxmmi Bomb.' I can't say much, but can mention that it is a very important, positive role, and the character is someone who will be with the lead actor, so there will be no fights with him.
I need to react to a script, to feel strongly about it in some way. And I need it to be a complex character for sure. And also, I think a lot about what kind of audience there is for the film, what they're looking for and ways to connect with them in the playing of a character.
I never said I wanted to be a lead actress; I never said I wanted to be a film actress. This need to trump everyone bewilders me. I'm only 25. I'm not better than anyone. I just want to watch other people and learn to be good.