Whether you know her best as Maya Sarabhai from Sarabhai & Sarabhai or Jay’s mom from Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na; Ratna Pathak Shah has certainly made her mark on the silver screen as well as on TV. The veteran actress who is married to Naseeruddin Shah speaks of the time she first met her now husband.
She says, “The first theater play we did together was titled Sambhog Se Sanyaas Tak, and that is the story of our life.”
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“We fell in love and have been inseparable ever since. Bas sanyaas lena baaki hai (laughs). It’s a relationship, which has been very useful. It is a relationship of equals, of friends, which has been a blessing for us,” IE reports her sharing.
“We became very good friends and stayed very good friends,” she explains, adding that her husband is an extraordinarily hard-working actor, which inspires and pushes her to do better. “I am very lazy. Itni hardworking nahi hu. Toh Naseer ki dekha dekhi mein, mujhe bhi mehnat karni hi padti hai.”
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Looking back upon her own journey, Ratna believes she wasn’t a sought after actor at the start. “I was not a sought after actor for many years. For several years, I got no work at all. Now also, I get a variety of parts and I pick what is interesting. I am quite astounded that without much suffering, I have had a wonderful career,” she smiles.
She shares her take on yesteryear’s cinema, saying, “In the yesteryears heroines were concerned about their hair, makeup and outfit. I feel as a woman actor, there was a lack of examples to look up to or learn from. I did not want to be Babita or the kind of personality that was meant to sing, dance and look good. I was not interested in being that. But today’s actresses, thankfully, have gone beyond it.”
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However, she feels content on television is still lacking. “Today, we are back to saas-bahu dramas. I feel like crying when I watch the kind of content being played on television these days. It is so crude and regressive. Kyun ho raha hai? Ye kya hai? Is this the meaning of sanskriti? So backward!” she exclaims.
She discussing how she has honed her own craft over the years. “When I started, I was an average actor but I got the chance to better myself and I have grabbed those opportunities with both hands,” signs off.
What’s your take on her journey? Tell us!