Are you really playing HER?” is a question Amrita Rao has been fielding for the last few months. The actor, who takes a leap into the small screen with a show titled Meri Awaaz Hi Pehchaan Hai airing on &TV, tries not to answer that directly.
“Honestly, I was not given any specific reference point for my role, nor was I told that it’s based on the life of a particular singer. It’s a work of fiction and has been penned beautifully by Bhavani Iyer and conceptualised by a hardworking team,” says she.
Real-life approach
However, going by the trailers and the first couple of episodes of Meri Awaaz…, the parallels are unmistakable. The show offers glimpses into the lives of the two legendary singer sisters and their envy-torn relationship, which India speaks of in faux hushed tones. Amrita plays Kalyani Gaikwad, the elder of the two Gaikwad sisters, both of whom are passionate about music and travel to Mumbai to follow their dreams. It is a 130-episode drama with actors Deepti Naval, Zarina Wahab and Pallavi Joshi.
Amrita says that she greenlighted the show because it of its uniqueness. She also reveals that fiction on television had been offered to her by several top channels, but none of the concepts appealed to her. “The TV audience is vast. Films eventually depend on TV for recall value and shelf-life. It is proven that popularity and relatability factors are far deeper on TV. I was waiting for a good reason to debut on this medium and I couldn’t have asked for a better concept than this. It is character-driven and has a lot of freshness to it. To play Kalyani Gaikwad, an illustrious legendary singer in the history of Indian music, is hugely challenging and exciting,” says the actor, who starred in Shyam Benegal’s Welcome To Sajjanpur.
While she has not chanced upon Sai Paranjpe’s 1998 film Saaz on a parallel subject, Amrita says that she trained in classical singing for the role. “I observed a lot of singers and watched musical performances on YouTube to understand their body language and certain nuances that would help me portray the character better. I had also taken up training in classical singing for a month and learned to play the sitar, which helped me understand the art better,” she adds.
Working with interesting film personalities is also an experience that Amrita cherishes. “Zarinaji is a warm and friendly person. Deeptiji is more reserved and watchful. Both are perfectly cast for their roles. Deeptiji plays my older version in the show and it has been a pleasure just interacting with them and hearing their views on cinema and acting. Pallavi Joshi is a phenomenal actor!”
While the young actor is enjoying television as a medium, she understands its challenges and opportunities. “We are trying to bring a difference. We are trying to work on creatively realistic and technology-driven content. The only biggest challenge is to hold on to audience attention in the confinement of their distracted homes,” she says. Besides Meri Awaaz…, she speaks from her experience of being a judge and mentor to Perfect Bride on Star Plus and recently a muse of the Jaipur Jewellery Show on NDTV Good Times.
But she’s not particularly sold on reality shows, except in the comedy genre. “I don’t want to be associated with non-fiction or infinite shows except for comedy shows. I have never enjoyed watching them. I just feel it’s wrongly influencing the audience and the younger generation. Having said that, something in the space of either mentoring or hosting would be challenging.”
The Bollywood experience
She’s been in the “big, bad” world of Bollywood for a good 14 years now. But Amrita has never let the madness get to her. With about 20 films to her credit, the last at least 3 years ago, the lady has shown she is in no hurry to get anywhere. Quietly however, Amrita has made her mark through films like Ishk Vishk, Welcome to Sajjanpur, Main Hoon Na, Jolly LLB and Satyagraha. But Amrita does not believe she was a ‘victim’ who never got good films, saying instead that it was her own policy. “Honestly, it would be unfair to say that I have been treated unfairly in Bollywood. I am the one who has had certain self-imposed restrictions about not doing certain scenes or roles which are not within my comfort zone. I have taken decisions to drop plum projects because these roles have been completely intimidating. I have been choosy about doing only content driven films for family audiences. I have refused more films than sign a nonsense bunch of many.”
But Amrita is open to both films and television currently. “I would do more TV only for the right reasons. Bollywood is getting more real and experimental for sure. Something period will always excite me.” While the grapevine suggests that Prakash Jha has signed her on for his next — Satsang, Amrita only says she’s working with a director she’s worked with earlier. Among her mentors who “treat me like family”, Amrita counts Sooraj Barjatya and Farah Khan.