Rani plays by her own rules
Nonika Singh

Each time critics want to write her epitaph, Rani Mukerji silences them with yet another mind-blowing performance. Post-Mardaani as she is reveling in the adulation, Rani shares notes on what it takes to hit the right chord in portraying complex characters

Ever since the hazel-eyed Bengali beauty Rani Mukerji made her debut in Bollywood, there have been no quarrels about her enormous talent. Of course, over the years, her career graph has moved up and down, now riding high, now running low. But each time her critics want to write her epitaph, she silences them with yet another mind-blowing performance.

With one stroke (read Mardaani), Rani has once again underlined that she is an actor of all seasons. If only the other day the newly wedded bride hogged the headlines for what she wore for her (much-anticipated) wedding with Aditya Chopra, today all eyes are resting on Rani the actor, courtesy her perfect cop act in Mardaani. Post-release as she is basking in the adulation coming her way from all quarters — critics, viewers, friends, admirers, even foes, perhaps — the star actor has more than one reason to smile.

Indeed, behind the smile rests a lot of hard work. For her tough cop act, Rani may not have had any particular female police officer in mind but she made many visits to the crime branch office, interacted with whole lot of officers and studied their attitudes and behaviour. She says, "When we talk of female cops, we can only think of Kiran Bedi. But the fact is there are many brave officers whose hearts are instilled with love for the country." To be one like them, she not only invested emotionally but for getting the physical aspect spot on she even trained in martial arts.

As a rule, Rani does a lot of homework for her characters. But, complex roles like Mardaani and Black, she insists, require more diligent background detailing. Mouthing expletives, however, she insists comes easy. She reasons, "After all we are living in times when women do use swear and cuss words." No wonder be it in No One Killed Jessica or Mardaani, she had no issues with uttering profanities.

Strictly from an actress’ point of view, she feels Bollywood has evolved and so have the film-going audiences whose tastes anyway undergo a paradigm shift every five years. Cinema of today, she avers, is getting there, in sync with changing aspirations and expectations of the youth who are now ready to see women in stellar roles. However, she hates the womencentric tag given to films like Mardaani. Her rationale is, "Do we ever call other films male-dominated? So why use labels for women alone? Let’s initiate a change."

Rani has often lent her name to social causes — be it education women or children. Every once in a while she would love to do a film like Mardaani, which comes laced with a significant concern yet she does not endorse ‘artists have a social responsibility’ line. Rather she is categorical, "Cinema is a business of entertainment".

Yet in the same cliché and commerce driven industry, she has made some very brave, off the rulebook choices. Indeed, like the gutsy roles she has played she is quite a brave "I would like to believe so" woman in real life too. What you see is what you get.

So when do we get to see the Odissi dancer (she has learnt the classical dance form) in her onscreen? Her parting note is a promise that she would be on the lookout for a part that would exploit her dancing talent. As for her enormous acting potential, with Mardaani, a perfect showcase of her histrionic ability, is she hoping to pick up yet another award? She shoots back, "I am not hankering after awards. People’s love matters more."

Though Rani would rather be the queen of hearts than awards, accolades come as easily to this winner of several Best Actress awards as viewers’ unqualified admiration and respect.

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