MUMBAI : Actor Harleen Sethi first said, "Not again," when producers of the Disney Plus Hotstar series Bad Cop knocked on her home with a possible casting call for a role as a young mother. Sethi believed she was being forced into a caricature that the industry is notorious for. Only a year before, she had won praise for her performance in Kohrra as a young mother struggling with an unhappy marriage and longing to escape.
Harleen said, “he first thing that crosses your mind is, ‘Oh well, have they approached you to play this part because you played a mother in this age group?’ Or they truly believe only you can do this character?” She added, “So that was the first question, that am I being put in a box of a particular age group on screen? One never wants to get slotted like that. I even brought this up with Anurag and Aaradhana (the producer) and they said this fear is true that stereotyping happens a lot in Bollywood but my director Aditya Datt and Anurag said it’s changing and that’s no more the case. Aditya told me that he didn’t think of casting me because I played a young mother in Kohrra but because of the performance I did. So that makes you believe that that you’re being considered for the right reasons.”
Harleen added, “Before streamers came in, there was a shelf life for woman. Look at the age group today, actresses are being launched at 16-17, so clearly, I won’t be offered any college student part in a film. There are these realities but at the same time, you don’t want to be put in a box of young mother and get the industry to give you only those roles. It should be about the performance and what I bring to the table, instead of blindly stereotyping.”
She further added, “Industry started looking at me differently after the show. Broken but Beautiful reached the masses but Kohrra reached to the important voices in the industry. Masses give you reach but it’s the industry which gives you the kind of work that you want to do. Those filmmakers watch certain films or certain type of series. They might have heard of your popular shows, but won’t have necessarily seen it, so they’re not sure what you’re capable of doing.”
Also Read: Exclusive! Barun Sobti on Kohrra, “First when I was called I got very surprised”
She concluded saying, “I’m also tired of doing serious stuff; crying, being angry and sad! I really want to learn newer emotions on screen, so I’d love to do a comedy or a musical. But no one is seeing me in that space. I do want them to see that side of me because I’m chill in life. I don’t why I have been made so serious, no-nonsense kind.”
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Credit-IndianExpress
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