Supriya Pathak on doing a movie with stepson Shahid Kapoor: ‘If offered, we will work together’

With its novel theme, Rashmi Rocket is already making noise. Starring Taapsee Pannu, Abhishek Banerjee and Supriya Pathak, the movie takes on the apply of gender testing. The movie comes out on October 15 on Zee5. In an interview with indianexpress.com, Supriya Pathak, who performs the function of Taapsee’s mom within the movie, talks about her robust character, the enjoyment of working with director Akarsh Khurana, and the professionals and cons of launch on OTT platforms.
Supriya says she was overwhelmed to work with Akarsh, as she has seen him develop up. She says, “I really enjoyed doing this film, I loved the script and the inspiration. It is a very interesting script. I’ve seen Akarsh as small child, so it was a pleasure and moment of pride when he offered me this film. It’s like your ghar ka baccha offering you a film. So that was a big high for me.”

Speaking about her function, she says, “My role is important as it has a presence and adds poignance in the film. I hope that has come out. It was great for me to go through this.” She added that the mom within the movie is a pillar of a assist, and it additionally reminded her of her personal mom. “Mothers are our support system. She’s always at the back of our minds… I miss my mother. If she was there, I could have gone to her house and put my head on her lap. In this, she’s the perfect person to fall back on. That’s the kind of mother I play in this, someone who has gone through a lot in life. It’s a nice relationship.”

Pathak loved working with ‘youngsters’ within the movie and phrases it as a ‘feel-good experience’. “We had a lot of fun working on this film, it was my first time working with Taapsee. She was so focussed on the role. It was a great pleasure. Akarsh is also a great director and so sure of himself. It was great to work with a bunch of youngsters.”
Supriya Pathak has essayed quite a lot of roles through the years — if she made individuals snigger together with her antics as Hansa in Khichdi, she additionally gave them chills together with her efficiency as Dhankor within the movie Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela. Pathak has a passion for her character Hansa, maybe greater than different roles. Asked if she misses the function of Hansa, she says, “I miss Hansa, I miss her all the time. I would love to keep playing her all the time.”
Owing to the pandemic, movies have been slated to launch on OTT platforms, as a substitute of theatres. In the previous two years, the OTT platforms akin to Netflix, Amazon Prime and Zee have change into a kind of lifeline for cinema goers. Speaking about this, she says, “OTT is a great platform. Because of this platform, different kinds of stories and genres can be explored. We have a great opportunity to do something interesting, and to keep doing it.”
However, she reveals her issues relating to OTT platforms. “When television came, it offered the same opportunity. It was a medium to explore and reach out to a lot of people and tell more stories. Somehow it became regressive.”
Is she referring to the saas-bahu soaps that swept tv for nearly a decade? “The saas-bahu format, anything. Similar work is being done on similar kinds of channels. In the daily soaps, quality became unimportant as they became quantity oriented. The face of television changed, and I wasn’t comfortable with that. Over here, we have a follow-the-leader attitude, and that scares me. We are not competing within our country, we are competing with a global audience on OTT. If you see all over the world, the shows are so interesting and different from each other. I hope we manage that here. The films that are coming out on OTT are really quite interesting.”
However, she fears that once more a sample is rising. “Whatever I’ve been seeing over the years, we’re again coming up with dark content. All the OTT platforms are beginning to give you dark content, and we need to break that. We need to tell different kinds of stories. When we started doing television, there was Idhar Udhar, Hum Log, Saans — so many genres and takes. So many things were being done. And then this whole saas-bahu thing started, everyone started doing the same thing. This should not happen with OTT, because it’s a beautiful beginning.”
With regard to theatres opening once more, Pathak says that whereas she is eager to carry out on stage once more, it shouldn’t be on the threat of anybody’s well being. “As performers, I’m dying to go back on stage, but I don’t want to ask my audience to come and watch with full capacity.”
Most of Supriya Pathak’s household is within the trade, together with her stepson Shahid Kapoor. On whether or not we’d ever get to see them on display collectively, she laughs, “I don’t know, I have no idea. But if ever offered, we will work together.”