‘In the 70s, Stars Were Obnoxious; Were Poor Performers’: Ratna Pathak Shah

Ratna Pathak Shah also spoke about how comedy saved her life.

Ratna Pathak Shah talks about how comedy saved her life.

(Photo Courtesy: Instagram)

Actor Ratna Pathak Shah opened up about female characters in films from the 70s and 80s either ‘had no right to be happy or were traumatised with something or the other’. She also talked about how toxic the celebrity culture was in the 1970s and how star power often trumped everything else.

Ratna Pathak Shah told Pinkvilla, “The way in which the stars were treated versus everybody else. "The way in which the content of films was completely driven by the star involved, and not by the idea of telling a story, unlike in the films of a certain number of directors like Bimal Roy, K Asif, Mehboob Khan."

"For them, the star was the carrier of the story. And they were big enough themselves so that the stars did behave.”

Ratna Pathak Shah in Pinkvilla

“But, by the time I was growing up in the 70s, the stars were… pretty obnoxious, sorry, in the way they behaved. And they were all poor performers, and they were all cruising on I don’t know what. So, it was hard to feel any kind of connection to that kind of attitude,” the actor added.

Talking about the kind of stories that were picked up then, she said, “I'm not simply an actress who is going to cry, look sad and look angry. Because that's what women did in those days. Look at all the films of the 70s-80s even the art film types. What did poor Smita (Patil) and Shabana (Azmi) do? Either they cried or they were angry all the time.”

“That's how stereotypically the film-writers were looking. They (women) had no right to be happy or were traumatised with something or the other. Those are the kind of stories picked up."

Ratna Pathak Shah in Pinkvilla

The actor made her debut with Shyam Benegal’s Mandi in 1983 and acted in several films including Mirch Masala, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, Golmaal 3, Kapoor & Sons, and Lipstick Under My Burkha. She is, however, grateful to Anand Mehandroo for her role in the sitcom Idhar Udhar.

The show that premiered in 1985 starred Ratna Pathak Shah, Supriya Pathak, Dina Pathak, and Lillete Dubey. While Ratna’s part in Idhar Udhar put her on the map, she also gained recognition for her work in Sarabhai vs Sarabhai.

Ratna told Pinkvilla, “Comedy saved my life. Comedy made me realise that acting is very much more than crying and shouting loudly. That there is a lot of skill and hard work and timing required for comedy and that training oneself is an ongoing process and you have to keep doing that all the time. So all three things have helped, all three ideas have helped.”

The actor was last seen in Ranveer Singh's Jayeshbhai Jordaar and is part of Dhak Dhak which also stars Fatima Sana Shaikh, Dia Mirza and Sanjana Sanghi.

The film, directed by Tarun Dudeja, will be produced by Taapsee Pannu, Pranjal Khandhdiya and Ayush Maheshwari.