'My heart lies in Bollywood'

Simple Ambition

Amrita Rao is clear when she says that cinema must give more scope to the performance of an actor. To her delight, she managed to bag a performance-oriented role in Prakash Jha’s Satyagraha, which boasts of an impressive star cast.

Every actor in the film, hand-picked by the director, has a substantial role to play in the film. 

Amrita says that she couldn’t have been happier when she got a call from Prakash, asking her to essay the role of Amitabh Bachchan’s daughter-in-law in the film. “I can’t reveal too much about the film but I play a meaty role. My character is that of a simple girl, very honest and someone who follows her dream. But somewhere down the line, she becomes the focal point in the film,” Amrita tells Metrolife.

The young actress dubs Satyagraha as a movement of sorts and she can’t stop praising director Prakash Jha when she says, “Prakash sir is a disciplinarian who executes every subject he chooses with precision and comfort. There are more than 6,000 junior artistes who have worked for this film and we monopolised more than half of Bhopal during the shoot. But all this was executed so effortlessly.”

Acting with Amitabh Bachchan was a dream come true for Amrita. “I was in utter disbelief when I was around Mr Bachchan. He has broken every bone in his body to be where he is today and yet he is so humble and has no nakhra at all,” she avers. 

Amrita is not the quintessential Bollywood bimbette. She might have loads of attitude, but she also has a value system. And she won't throw away those values for a place on the altar of success. “I chose not to get carried away by the arc lights of the film industry. I want to be remembered for the roles that I do — that is more important to me than earning a lot of money,” she notes.

Amrita is a South Indian but she has done more Bollywood films. “I get a lot of offers from the Telugu and Kannada film industries but my heart lies in Bollywood. It’s a huge challenge to give expression to lines that you don’t understand. Acting is all about reacting and it requires a different kind of patience,” she reasons.

She will be playing the role of a journalist in her next project. “There’s a lot of background work that’s gone into understanding the role of a journalist. I’ve played the role to the best of my capacity,” she sums up.