'It is the best film of my career'

Working in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Black has changed Rani Mukherjee’s life

For the first time in her career, Rani Mukherjee plays a deaf and mute character in Black. It is also the first time the actress has worked with Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Amitabh Bachchan.

Rani speaks about her experience of working in the film, her regret on not being able to allocate dates for Mira Nair’s The Namesake and her views about the current trend of showing skin in Bollywood.

Excerpts:

What is your role in Black?
I play Michelle McNally, a young girl who is mute, deaf and blind from the time she is 2 months old. For me, it is the role of a lifetime as I have never come across a deaf, mute and blind person. As an actress there was absolutely no reference point for me to fall back on.

Would you say that it is the most challenging role of your career?
When Sanjay Leela Bhansali narrated the script to me, the first thing that struck me was that you may come across people from the lowest strata of society.

You may come across a housewife or for that matter, a police inspector in real life. But rarely do you interact with someone like Michelle McNally.

What sort of homework did you do to get into the skin the character?
I made it a point to learn a little bit of Braille. I also learnt sign language from Helen Keller’s Institute for the Blind in Vashi [Mumbai, India]. Working in Black has indeed been a great learning experience for me as an actress.

When I started shooting for the film, I was a little tense but I think I was blessed because whenever I was in my character, I automatically became Michelle and flowed with the character effortlessly. I was back to being Rani after I removed my costume.

To what extent did the role disturb you?
When you set out to play a role like this, it definitely disturbs you as a person. Playing the role has changed my life completely. We used to have tears in our eyes while shooting for the movie. It used to unnerve me whenever I had to interact with the deaf and the mute people on the sets.

What kind of director is Sanjay Leela Bhansali?
Sanjay motivated me, he prodded me to give my best. Frankly, I could never have imagined tackling a character as complex as that of Michelle.

If you find me at my best in Black, I’d give 100 per cent credit to Sanjay. He visualises the shot in its entirety before he begins shooting. Sanjay takes responsibility for every thing - sound, music, art direction, camera work etc.

His artists always excel in his films, especially the way he makes his artists look and perform by giving them an entirely different dimension. He has that special quality.

How was the experience of working with Amitabh Bachchan?
Compared to his experience and achievements, Sanjay and I are just babies. Yet Amit uncle never made me feel that he is a huge star. He is very modest and sweet, like a father figure.

I missed Amit uncle when I was working with Abhishek in Bunty Aur Bubbly and I missed Abhishek when I was working with Amit uncle in Black. Amit uncle plays the role of Debraj Sahai, the teacher of the deaf and blind students in Black.

How special has the Black experience been as far as your career is concerned?
Black is the best film of my career as far as performance is concerned. It will always remain one of the special films in my life. If you enjoy working in it, the film becomes very special.

Weren’t you slated to act in Mira Nair’s next film The Namesake?
I regret the fact that I couldn’t adjust my dates to suit the schedule of Mira’s film based on the Jhumpa Lahiri novel of the same name.

She could have been my first ever woman director. I suppose I wasn’t destined to play that role. I am told Konkana Sen Sharma is essaying the role now.

Are you working with Shahrukh Khan in his next film?
Yes. I am going to work with Shahrukh this month. The film is based on Mani Kaul’s film Duvidha and Amol Palekar is the director. I am also working with Karan Johar in his next film which will go on the floors in April with Shahrukh Khan as my leading man.

How satisfied are you with your career?
It is upsetting if any film in which you have worked flops. But the kind of person I am, there is no stopping me. Every film has its own destiny. I think I have just arrived with Black as an actress.

Today, I have absolutely no reason to complain at all. I feel whatever is your due will come to you. You must have patience to forge ahead in your life.

The trend nowadays is to expose blatantly. Where do you fit in the current scenario?
As far as exposing is concerned, I have not set any limit for myself. Tomorrow if I feel comfortable enough to expose, I will.

An actor shouldn’t have any inhibitions. As an individual you can draw a line if you aren’t comfortable. If you remember, I had worn a miniskirt in my very first film Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat.

I feel everyone has the right to do the kind of film he or she likes to do. Why should we judge people? We should give respect to artists who do roles with which they are absolutely comfortable.

As an artist, I do not like someone telling me what roles I should do. It is my life and my body, how much I expose depends on how comfortable I am in front of the camera.

Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?
I’d like to visualise Rani Mukherjee as a housewife 10 years hence, after having bagged one or two Oscars. Frankly, I have no set plans. Whatever film I get in my life, I will go ahead and do it. I do not aim for anything at all. I take life as it comes.

I owe my growth as an actor to all the actors and directors who have inspired me. I am lucky that I got the opportunity to work with both Aamir Khan and Shahrukh Khan in my very second and third films - Ghulam and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai with directors like Vikram Bhatt and Karan Johar respectively.

Then I got the fabulous opportunity to work with Kamal [Hasan] in Hey Ram. When I see actors like Chichi [Govinda] and Anil working so hard after so many years in the industry, I realise that I should focus more on my shots.

I know that just achieving success isn’t important. What is important is to maintain the success that you have managed to achieve on your own merit by sheer hard work and talent.