Rani Mukerji, in a new interview, opened up on why she decided to pursue acting as a career. She also walked down the memory lane and revisited her first shot for her Hindi debut film Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat.
After appearing on screen for the first time in the Bengali film Biyer Phool which was helmed by helmed by her father Ram Mukherjee, Rani Mukerji made her Bollywood debut in 1996 with Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat in which she essayed the role of a rape victim.
She gained wide recognition with films like Ghulam and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, and soon established herself as one of the most sought-after leading ladies. Over the years, Rani’s name became synonymous with many power-packed roles with films like Mardaani, Black, No One Killed Jessica, to name a few.
Recently, in a chat with Film Companion, Rani reflected upon her journey in films. The actress shared that while she wasn’t keen on becoming an actress, her mother wanted her to give it a shot.
The Bunty Aur Babli actress said, “My mom thought that I should give it a shot because maybe the situation in the family was somewhere where she thought that I could be a bread owner or something. So, it was also I think a decision was also laced with a lot of factors. It was just not like ‘Mere beti sundar hai actor ban jao.” I think it wasn’t that. ”
Also because, my mom’s younger sister is also an actor, she did thought that because my aunt had also had a really nice prolific career. There’s nothing that bad or there’s nothing that can’t happen. But, because I wasn’t too keen. She kind of really played well with me. She’s a smart woman. She told me, ‘You know what, try this one film and see how it goes if you are interested and if you don’t like it, you can go back to your life,” Rani recalled.
The actress said that today, when she is wiser and older, she understands what her mother went through at that point of time because it was a little setback in her family and why she was so keen on her becoming an actor. Rani also added that her mother played it cool with her at that time.
According to Rani, she believes that ‘destiny plays a stronger role in these things’.
“It was destined that I would face the camera. Because for a person, who doesn’t know anything about performing or about acting or how it is to be in front of the camera, you know you need to either have the passion for it, so then, you want to learn. But with me, it happened like an arranged marriage. So, I got married to the movies and then I fell in love with it. It’s done me good. This arranged marriage has really worked for me,” the Bunty Aur Babli star continued.
Rani joked that she has realised that arranged marriages ain’t bad.
During the course of the chat, the Bollywood star also revealed that her mother and her brother were petrified after seeing her first screen test.
But somehow I think the producer had faith in the way I kind of came across on screen. I think the DoP and the way he shot. There are some faces that are meant for the camera and there are some people who might be gorgeous looking but they don’t really come out looking great in front of the camera and sometimes very ordinary people like me look nice on camera. So, I was lucky,” she told the audience.
Further, Rani also got nostalgic and recalled her muhurat shot for her Hindi debut Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat. The actress said that when she shot, it was like magic happened to her.
“I was on a stage for the mahurat shot. Because at that time, you know you had this thing where the industry friends and family used to congregate and come together under one roof and wish well for the film. Somebody would do the clap and somebody would say start sound and somebody would say action. I remember wearing this pink outfit in Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat..I think my fans would remember…They said action and I performed,” Rani reminisced.
The actress said that before she gave that shot, she was struggling in the acting class and was like ‘how do people do it or stuff like that.’
“I did it and for the first time in my heart, I felt yeah not bad, I did it. It’s like you know when you are self-doubting yourself and then for the first time, you feel like no this is something I think I can do. That happened to me on the muhurat day and then, there was no looking back from my side at least. In the sense, I started to enjoy what I was doing. First, I thought it was going to be very tedious for me. But then, later on, I just ironed it out,” Rani said in her interview.
On the work front, Rani Mukerji was last seen in Ashima Chibber’s Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway.
