It's never over till it's over

Do you believe in second chances? That seems to be the premise of Club 60...
Each day is a second chance and one must take it. All it takes is to believe in yourself and know that a new day with new hopes and possibilities is there for you.

What caught your attention the first time you read the script?
There is an element of goodness in the story and its characters. And the positivity that no matter what, one must move on. Also the way director Sanjay Tripathi has written the scenes — where tragedies are spoken of in a very matter of fact manner— was very refreshing.

What according to you is the best thing about doing a film that doesn’t adhere to the commercial diktats of the Hindi film industry?
That it gives the director the freedom to make his kind of cinema and he is not under any kind of pressure to include things that do not gel with his script. It is purely an individual’s vision. This also creates interesting roles and actors get to be the characters with much more ease.

Do the movies coming your way today make you glad that you decided to give acting another shot?
Yes I am. More than roles, it is because cinema has matured so much and today’s cinema is my kind of cinema. It is more real in its depiction. As an actor, I have the freedom to explore and get inspired from real people and I do not end up being a fictitious character trapped in the lines of a writer. I would love to play a fictitious character in a fantasy, but definitely not in realistic cinema. Being real means being subtle, and that is more challenging and I enjoy that very much.

Getting meaty roles or getting typecast: what’s the bigger struggle for veteran actors these days?
Both! Being typecast is a lazy unimaginative space. After Parzania, I got many scripts about a suffering mother or a mother searching (for) her lost child. If you repeat your roles then you cannot grow as an actor. I think not getting meaty roles is more of an actress’ problem. Women are not very often cast in individual roles. Most of the time they are relationship roles — lover, wife, sister, mother. Nothing wrong with that if it is her story too. But that’s not the case. So just hanging around in the frame for the purpose of moving the script to the next level is not exciting.

Do you, in real life, have a group of friends who are there every bit of the way, like the gang the movie centers around?
I am blessed when it comes to friends, and I always thank the Universe for bringing such wonderful people in my life. We are there for each other in happy and not-so-happy times. I have friends who are part of everything in my life. My friends are my strength.

What makes your life beautiful today?
My work and my daughters; there is so much to be thankful for. I’m happy with the scripts and projects  I am working on. I have finished work on a very good project and working on the next one. Shruti has found  commercial and artistic success. Akshara is starting her film with Balki. Life is good.

Your advice to any woman who feels like life’s a dead-end would be...
I don’t like giving advice. We all find what works for us. As for me, I believe it is never the end till one dies. And I doubt if it ends even after that.