I've been open to mainstream Bollywood cinema: Rasika Dugal

Having done content-driven films like "Tahaan", "Qissa", "Kshay" and the upcoming film "Manto", actress Rasika Dugal says she has been open to mainstream Bollywood films, but it is just that the roles she has been offered in the commercial space have been very "insignificant".

Rasika is an alumnus of the prestigious Films and Television Institute of India. She made her acting debut in 2007 with "Anwar" and since then she has featured in content-driven films.

Since she is not labelled as a 'quintessential Bollywood star', would she like to feature in mainstream Hindi film?

"I have always been open mainstream Bollywood films as well. I have never said 'I want to do this kind of a film or not', but they (makers) have not wanted me. And the roles that I have been offered in mainstream Bollywood have been very insignificant to the story and therefore I have been disinterested in them.

"I wouldn't say I have not got calls for films, but not the kind of roles that I want to do. If someone gives me a meaty enough role, I will be happy to do it," Rasika told IANS here.

The 33-year-old says that on the flipside, films like "Qissa" and "Manto" came to her.

"I do believe that as an artiste you attract the work you are seeking from within even though you consciously did not understand that. So, I guess I wanted to do these films and whether it's 'Qissa' or 'Manto', they have given me more than what artistes get to do in a lifetime. Artistes live their entire lives without getting to work on projects like this," she added.

Having "Manto" at Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard category also gave her a sense of achievement.

"Cannes was a big tick mark on my bucket list because for the kind of work that I do, one of the highest recognition you can get in the kind of films I do is that a film of yours is at Cannes in such a respectable category. It was in the Un Certain Regard which is not an easy category to get into and very few films get in there," she said.

Now the film will be releasing in India in September and Rasika is excited about it.

"I am just waiting for the world to watch 'Manto'. I am waiting for people in our country who have been reading Manto for a really long time and who are involved with his texts in a way and want to know more about his life... I am waiting for them to watch it," said the actress, who plays Safia Manto in the Nawazuddin Siddiqui starrer.

Rasika spoke to IANS as she was the showstopper for the label Vriksh by designer Gunjan Jain at the Lakme Fashion Week Winter/ Festive 2018 on Thursday.

(Durga Chakravarty is in Mumbai at the invitation of the Lakme Fashion Week organisers. She can be contacted at durga.c@ians.in)

--IANS

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