TV is her current forte

My son wakes up as a new person everyday. If he wakes up as a lion then I become mumma lion and Goldie becomes papa Lion for the day,” chuckles actress Sonali Bendre on being asked if her son is dramatic.

When she was in the City to audition kids (in the age group of 5-12 years) for Zee TV’s upcoming show India’s Best Dramebaaz, the actress was all praise for Delhi kids who turned up in huge numbers to participate in the reality show.

“Delhi has such immense talent and there are so many talented kids that we kept shooting till late. We had to finalise 15 kids and we ended up selecting 25. It was very difficult for us (Sonali and Anurag Basu) to say ‘no’ to the rest, as all of them were very good,” shares Soonali who has judged a number of reality shows on television.

She recollects, “I was the first female actor to have appeared on TV when I did Kya Masti Kya Dhoom, 10 years back. Reality shows for kids are special for me as it is wonderful to interact with kids. I feel every child is dramatic. I think I am a simple girl but my mother thought that I was dramatic as a child.” Yet no one in her family thought that she would take up acting as a career.

“I belong to a middle-class family. My father was a government servant and it would have been a dream come true for him if I would have become an IAS officer. When I shared the desire to venture into acting, everyone in my family was surprised. It was my naani who spoke up in my favour and told the rest ‘If she is getting offers for films then why shouldn’t she go for it?’ She was a self-taught lady and had never seen school but was more broad-minded than I am today. Her’s is the kind of education we all need in our society today,” she remarks while stating that every kid needs to be given the freedom to explore.

“The more free time is given to kids, the more their imagination improves. As a mother, I allow my son restricted access to the iPod and iPhone, so that he can develop as an individual,” she confesses. But she strongly feels that kids should not be forced. “Some amount of competitiveness is required for kids to excel in adverse situations. But this should be limited to a healthy competition and not beyond that.”
As for films, she will soon be seen back on silver screen.

“Television requires less time as compared to films, so I am happy doing it but soon I will be doing a role in Milan (Luthria)’s upcoming film. It so happened that Shobha (Kapoor) aunty who is an old friend of my mother-in-law called her up and said Beti ko bol role karle. How could have I said ‘no’ to it then?” she signs off.