Ratna Pathak Shah says she never wanted mainstream film work: 'Chhote chhote kapde pehen ke naachna…'

Ratna Pathak Shah, in her recent interview, talked about the challenges that she faced in mainstream cinema. The actress said that TV was a blessing for actors like her as it gave various opportunities.

While speaking to Siddharth Kannan and talking about how time changed, Ratna stated, “there were very strong star systems, there were. One was the commercial star system which was impossible for people like me to break. I have would have got work, then it is like playing a sister or a funny woman. And I never wanted to do this, and vo jo bechaare actresses karti thi chote chote kapde pehn ke naachna, vo mujhe nahi krna tha (and the actresses used to dance wearing short clothes, I never wanted to do that). “

She added, “parallel cinema which gave opportunities to different kinds of actors, art cinema, commercial cinema, alternative cinema, labels, they also had star system. How many roles did Dipti Naval who was a wonderful actress get in films? vahi 4 naa ( only those 4). What roles did get Panjak Kapoor, and Supriya got at that time? There was a star system there also, and we couldn’t break it there also and here also. Therefore, for people like us, television was a huge blessing. And we did things and played characters that we never imagined. I sang songs on Tv, I danced and I never thought of doing all this. But we did, and that was the time when we did unusual things and it was refreshing new."

On being asked if she ever stops Naseeruddin Shah from expressing his mind, Ratna Pathak Shah responded, “Haan bolte hain kyunki aaj ke zamaane mein koi aakar khada ho jayega hamare ghar pe, patthar daalne. Aur waise bhi kaam badi mushkil se mil raha hai sabko. Aajkal to kayi wajah hain kaam na milne ki. (I do tell him because in today’s times, somebody might just come outside our house to pelt stone. Anyway, people are hardly getting work these days. Today, there are so many reasons to not get work.

Read|Ratna Pathak Shah says she fears people would pelt stones at her and Naseeruddin Shah's home: 'Darr lagta hai...'