With Bombay Begums, actress Pooja Bhatt returned in front of the camera after a decade. While Pooja has been receiving praises since the premiere of the series on Netflix, it was the fact that she would be able to play her age that appealed to her the most while signing this series.
In an exclusive conversation with INDULGE, the 49-year-old actress said, "While the most appealing thing about my character is the power she exudes, for me, the key really was to be able to play my age. Alankrita Shrivastava (the creator of the show) was very clear that Rani is a 49-year-old woman dealing with menopause. It was a relief to be able to play your age and talk about the real issues, be it me dealing with menopause or a 12-year-old navigating puberty or a woman in her 30s battling with pregnancy."
Interestingly, Pooja had refused the series when it was first offered to her owing to a clash of dates.
"I was first approached in August 2019. At that point, I was working on Sadak 2 and I couldn’t leave it in the middle so I had to turn down this offer. A month later, they reached out again asking if I would like to meet Alankrita Shrivastava and I agreed. When she started speaking about the show, I could see how clearly she knew Rani and for how long she must have lived with her. Rani is a very powerful but complex character, it wasn’t one tone from any angle and so was the case with other women characters. Miraculously everything fell into place and we started shooting by the end of October."
Pooja also noted that while artists think that it is them who choose projects, it is actually the opposite. "We think that we choose the project. But, I think projects and roles choose us. Rani chose me. And, I couldn’t have asked for a better OTT debut."
Read full interview here.