To attempt to discuss Bollywood actresses doing unconventional roles with Rani Mukherjee would be to radio kill it. Because, ever since her Hindi film debut 17 years ago, the actress has been known for veering off traditional heroine roles long before it became fashionable.
Whether it’s playing a woman who’s forced to marry her rapist in Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat (1997); a blind and deaf woman in 2005’s Black, an adulterous wife in Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006); a prostitute in Laaga Chunari Mein Daag (2007), or a feisty journalist in 2011’s No One Killed Jessica, Mukherjee’s strategy has always been doing strong, impactful roles, even if she’s not always the playing the central character. And she’s made a great success of it.
But Mardaani is, by her own admission, “very different”. In the film, out this weekend in the UAE, Mukherjee plays Shivani Shivaji Roy, a Mumbai crime branch officer tasked with chasing down a ruthless crime lord responsible for abducting young girls in the city and selling them for prostitution.
She says she revelled in the woman-in-a-man’s-world storyline of the film.
“I normally like to kick ass. I like to slap people around, give them a good thrashing. So, it was very enjoyable for me,” she says, laughing.
Preparations
For her role, Mukherjee had to learn Krav Maga, a street-fighting, self-defence system developed for the Israeli military. She also spent time with the head of the Mumbai Police’s crime branch while prepping for her role.
“We wanted it to be as real as possible. There were no cables helping me fly through the air, no over-the-top special effects or anything like that,” she says. “Because the premise of the story was based on real stories and what’s happening in the country, that reality was crucial to the film.”
Although exhausted from travelling across India to promote the film, Mukherjee, speaking to tabloid! over the phone from Mumbai, says the message of the film is what keeps her going. Mardaani in Hindi means masculinity.
“It’s one of the films I’ve enjoyed promoting the most because of the entire feeling that I’m trying to send across the nation: About women empowerment. The film’s urging women across the country, and the world, to be strong, to get strong,” she says.
“Women are getting violated every day in India. It’s time we all found the power in us, the mardaani in us. That’s why, each time I talk about this film, there is a special feeling because it’s such a powerful message. I don’t think even 10 years from now, I will ever tire of speaking about Mardaani.”
Star power
At 36, Mukherjee is today one of the most high-profile stars in India. Of course, her recent marriage to director and producer Aditya Chopra, who’s also the chairman of one of the country’s biggest entertainment companies, Yash Raj Films — producer of Mardaani — has only added to her star power.
She puts her success down to careful selection of roles early in her career and a body of work that now speaks for itself.
“I select films which I think the audience will like. I think it’s also important for actors to have a responsibility to do good characters that will inspire their fans,” she says. “I can’t just do a film for the sake of doing a film or just because I need to be seen.
“I also think that directors and writers perceive me more as an actor than a star. I don’t choose these kind of films specifically. They came to me and I get sucked into it. Sometimes it’s the right character, sometimes it’s the powerful message.”
That’s not to say that she’s averse to playing the typical Bollywood heroine. The 1998 superhit Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, one of the most successful Hindi films of all time, saw her play a college hottie who later discovers she’s come in between two lovers. It was a short role but one that marked her breakthrough into the Bollywood A-list. In 2003’s Chalte Chalte, she and Shah Rukh Khan, whom she acted with in Kuch Kuch… worked their box office magic again with a love story. And in the 2005 hit Bunty Aur Babli, she played a loveable crook trying to sell the Taj Mahal, among other things, opposite Abhishek Bachchan.
“I would probably say no to those roles in which my character has no say in the film. I choose every role that I do because my character brings something to it, irrespective of how big it is,” she says. “That’s why I did a film like Bombay Talkies [2013]. It was a short film but it had a very, very important message.”
The film, part of four shorts by different directors, saw her reunite with her Kuch Kuch Hota Hai director Karan Johar, where she played a magazine editor married to a man struggling with his sexuality.
Rumours
Mukherjee and her media-shy husband Chopra quietly got married in Italy in April, unbeknownst to most of Bollywood, let alone the media. Despite being fiercely guarded, interest in their private lives has only peaked. The latest rumour doing the round is that she’s pregnant.
“Rumours about my marriage started even before I actually got married or started seeing my husband. If rumours of pregnancy comes true, then great...very soon, I will become pregnant also. Because these rumours will somewhere reach the universe and the universe will make it happen,” was Mukherjee’s tongue-in-cheek response in an interview recently.
That probably explains why she’s averse to joining the social media bandwagon, even if it’s to promote her film.
“There are already so many mediums for to promote my films. I like to interact with people, personally speak to fans and be in touch with them… fans who are tuned into your network and know how to get their information. I think it’s quite selfish to just post things and leave it at that.”
Whether its Nargis in the iconic 1957 film Mother India or Nutan in the drama Bandini (1963), films with strong female characters have always resonated well with audiences, she says, and hopes fans will accept Mardaani too.
“It speaks of empowering women and is very relevant to the time we live in with all that’s going on. Shivani Shivaji is like a role model for me and I hope she will become every one’s,” she says.
