Because she wanted to be an actor first rather than a star, the veteran actor, currently starring in the film Om Ka Hari, talks to Hindustan Times about how her acting journey began and why she faced difficulties.
She has spent four decades in the film industry, but Soni Razdan says she was written off very early.
Soni was 25 when she made her film debut with Aparna Sen’s 36 Chowringhee Lane in a supporting role. She followed it up with supporting roles in Esmayeel Shroff’s Ahista Ahista and Shyam Benegal ’s Mandi. “I’m not saying I didn’t want to be a star, but I wanted to be an actor first. Then, you want to have the stardom along with that. That just gives you better roles, better opportunities, more power. That’s just the way I look at it.”
The actor says it was a conscious choice to go for these films.
You should not be seen before, and then you should be launched, like a rocket. And since you did a role in Shyam Benegal’s movie, you can’t be launched and can’t be a star. So then, I couldn’t be launched,” recalls Soni. Soni’s new film, Om Ka Hari, directed by Harish Vyas, has been released in theatres this Friday.
However, this led to many in the industry telling her that since she had done a Shyam Benegal film, she could no longer be a mainstream film heroine. I never got it. Why does there have to be one way to be a so-called star? I did not understand that at all. I was doing theatre. I was going wherever I got work, and I wanted to do good work, so I worked with Shyam Benegal and others. The film, which also marked the breakthrough roles for Anupam Kher and Rohini Hattangadi, earned Soni a Filmfare Award nomination as well as recognition. But everyone has their own journey. “There can’t be one way that you have to do everything. I just never believed in that. Maybe I have suffered and paid the price for it, I don’t know,” she adds. It also stars Anshuman Jha, Raghubir Yadav, and Ayesha Kapur in a pivotal role. The film is currently running in theatres. She will be next seen in the Netflix show Shaque.
However, in 1984, she starred in Saaransh, directed by Mahesh Bhatt. It marks Parineeti Chopra’s web series debut and is set to release on September 25. Because that was kind of a launch, even though I had done a few films before that, talking about the 1984 film, she says, “I was lucky.
“At some point, what happens is that you do a couple of films and then you are told: ‘You didn’t go down the right road’. The actor says she still believes there should not be a single way to reach stardom.
