No roles for mothers in mainstream cinema: Seema Pahwa

Veteran actor Seema Pahwa, who became a household name as the Badki of "Hum Log", says had it not been for small-budget films, theatre artistes like her would have disappeared from the screen.
Pahwa has become the go-to actor when it comes to playing middle-class mothers and such is her versatility that no two characters look similar.
In an interview to PTI, the actor says, "Mainstream cinema doesn't have roles for mothers, or parents at large. Smaller-budget films are now making brave efforts and such characters are being written properly. Thanks to such movies, artistes like us have started getting more jobs."

Playing Bhumi Pednekar's troubled mother in "Dum Laga Ke Haisha", who unabashedly offers sex advice to her daughter, Pahwa will next be seen portraying two back-to-back maternal roles in "Bareilly Ki Barfi" and "Shubh Mangal Saavdhan".
"Mother is such an endearing character. And I believe there are crores of people in our country, so it is obvious we will have more mothers. Similarly, in Bollywood, we will need different and contemporary mothers," she says.
But how is Bitti's mother from "Barielly..." different from Sugandha's in "Shubh..."?

The actor says, "In 'Bareilly...' I play this harrowed mother who just wants to see her daughter (played by Kriti Sanon) married. She is a little ignorant to the fact that the girl has grown up so much as a person.

"But the mother in 'Shubh...' is a well-read character, who has the same objective of getting her daughter (Bhumi Pednekar) married but she has a practical outlook and is more in control."
She says with years, even the Bollywood mother has become progressive.
"Mothers as characters may have same problems as they had years ago. But what's refreshing is how they are becoming more accepting towards the changes in society.
"Lately, they show that mothers are not stubborn. They are progressive and thinking about a lot of things. They are not the quintessential mother anymnore who is always crying and ailing," the actor says.

Pahwa says with films such as "Tanu Weds Manu" coming up, where the story of a family gets its due importance in Bollywood, more holistic movies are being made.
"Generally, the story only revolves around the hero and the heroine. And to be honest, the film appears quite incomplete. Why do we forget whatever the character of the hero or heroine does, it also has an impact on their family? If the hero has a break-up, it also affects his parents.
"Irrespective of the story line, the main leads will have some story about their parents. They will have a role in the development of the characters. They cannot be born without their parents. Now, films have picked up on the trend that parents are also integral to the story," she says.

Apart from Sanon and Pahwa, "Bareilly Ki Barfi" features Ayushmann Khurrana, Rajkummar Rao and Pankaj Tripathi.
The Ashwiny Iyer Tripathi-directed film releases August 18.