Actors are like beggars: Rani Mukerji (Interview)

MUMBAI - Rani Mukerji says she wants to be seen more often on the big screen but describes actors as beggars waiting for good scripts to come their way, which is the reason for her long absence.

“Actors are beggars! They wait for good scripts to come their way. It’s always the makers who decide to make a film and then it’s on the actors to choose what they want to do on the basis of what is being offered to them,” Rani, who will feature in a never-before-seen avatar in “No One Killed Jessica”, told IANS in an interview.

“Honestly, the kind of roles that are being offered to me, I have to think hard before taking them. I have a responsibility towards my fans and I can’t do random things. I have to do a role that catches people’s attention. If my fans love me so much, the least I can do is to come out with a good film for them; that’s why I do fewer films now,” said the 32-year-old.

The dusky damsel wants to be seen more, but somehow she is not so lucky.

“I keep hoping and praying that I get scripts which are different so that I can take up those films. As an actor I want to be seen.

“The constant reaction that I keep getting is that ‘Rani, we want to see more of you’, and I too want to do more films. In fact, I want to come out with two-three films every year, but I’ve not been really lucky that I could do that. I’m not getting the roles that I really want to do,” she said.

Rani, who used to do a couple of films a year earlier, has squeezed it down to just one project per year now. In the last three years, Rani was seen in just two films “Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic” and “Dil Bole Hadippa”, but both failed to spin any magic at the box office.

She is, however, very optimistic about 2011 when her “No One Killed Jessica” will hit the screens. Slated for a Jan 7 release, the film, based on the murder of model Jessica Lall in 1999 by Manu Sharma, son of a Haryana politician, will see her as a gutsy, fearless and bold crime reporter Meera Gaitey.

“When I was approached for this role, I was told that when the case was going on, there were a lot of reporters who pursued it actively. In a film, we obviously can’t have all of them. So my character is an amalgamation of all of them,” said Rani.

“It would have been unfair to model the character on one person. So, I played it how I thought the character would be. Also I have taken bits from reporters I have met in so many years. I incorporated inputs from my observation,” she added.

It was a long battle for Sabrina Lall to fight for justice for her sister and finally Manu Sharma was awarded life imprisonment by the Supreme Court. The film, which has been produced by UTV Spotboy and directed by Rajkumar Gupta, also features Vidya Balan as Sabrina Lall.

Throwing some light on her experience of working with Vidya, Rani said her co-star is very involved as an actor.

“Vidya is a method actor, which is what I have seen during the shooting of the film. She gets very involved in her character. She is a kind of actor who prepares a lot before coming on the sets. When she has to do a serious scene, I have seen her being very quiet and serious,” she said.

“When she worked with me, she got a pleasant surprise because I’m fun on the sets and she didn’t expect that. The minute she used to look at me, she used to start laughing because she finds me very naughty,” she added.

(Ruchika Kher can be contacted at ruchika.k@ians.in)