Aditi Rao says ‘heard a lot’ that South filmmakers use her talent better than Hindi directors; Naseeruddin Shah quips ‘May be they’re more intelligent’

Over the years, Aditi Rao Hydari’s appearances in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films have increased while her Hindi movie outings have seen a decline. The actor is now gearing for her ZEE5 original series Taj: Divided by Blood, in which she plays Anarkali. The series also stars Naseeruddin Shah as Mughal emperor Akbar.

When asked why Hindi filmmakers have not been able to tap into her potential as much as their counterparts from the South, Aditi told indianexpress.com, “I have heard this too much, a lot!”

Naseeruddin Shah, who was also present for the interview, quipped, “May be because the Tamil and Malayalam makers are more intelligent… Someone like Aditi has no reason to worry, sooner or later they will come to their senses here.”

Aditi Rao Hydari, however, said she doesn’t worry about Hindi filmmakers not offering her parts as exciting as the ones she gets in other industries. “I’ve watched a lot of people, who have done some really incredible work across industries. And even when I started, as a little girl, my dream was to be a Mani Ratnam heroine. I knew that I have to speak Tamil, because that is his language, you know, and he would be happiest making a Tamil film.

“I come from a family where my mother, grandmother, they’re all great storytellers and I realised that language, caste, religion, nothing comes in the way of a story. A story is about feelings and how it makes you feel a certain way. They can do that in any language.”

Aditi, who last year featured in the Tamil romantic-comedy Hey Sinamika opposite Dulquer Salmaan, said her aim has always been to
work with filmmakers who she is eager to collaborate with and be on movie sets where she can be a kid.

“And that’s what I really learnt from Mani sir and realised that I enjoyed that so much. That how much ever they challenge you and you feel like you’re going to just like fall apart, you push. It is so exciting to be on a set like that, where you can just feel like you’re a kid in a playground.

“You can explore as much as you want. You might fall, but you know there’s going to be somebody who will catch you and get you back on the jungle gym and say play again. Those are the most amazing sets, most challenging, but also most nurturing. And I’m like any language, any director that gives me that opportunity, I’ll do it,” she added.

William Borthwick is the showrunner of Taj: Divided by Blood with Simon Fantauzzo as the writer and Ronald Scalpello as the director. The series is set to stream on ZEE5 from March 3.