From Shimla’s orchards to an Aamir Khan film: Laapataa Ladies’ Pratibha Ranta proved her family wrong, left her dadi crying happy tears

“I am so sorry, but I have been getting these calls,” Pratibha says with a mix of guilt and chirp. The love for the film, now in its second week, has compensated her for all the lonely nights of coming back to an empty home after failed auditions in Mumbai. The story of Pratibha Ranta, the Shimla girl who rebelled for her dreams and bagged an Aamir Khan produced film as her screen debut, is also the story of the quintessential Mumbai hustle–of being lonely, navigating tricky situations and the small-town fight to grow big. Her journey begins where most end: family refusal.

‘Preity Zinta of Shimla’

Pratibha can’t shake off the premiere night of Laapataa Ladies. She attended the screening with her entire family, who came down from Shimla. “It was a very special moment for me, because all this while I was struggling alone in Mumbai. Wherever I had to go, I would go alone. I would see how others would come with their families or managers. But this time, my mangers were with me and so was my family I felt so complete.”

Pratibha’s parents live in a village 100 kms away from Shimla called Rodo, where they look after their apple orchids. Pratibha, her elder sister and later her younger brother moved to Shimla for further education and grew up with their dadu-dadi, who raised her in a matriarchal family.

“My dadi was a working woman at a time when being one was a rarity. I imbibed that strength from her, where she not only took care of the responsibilities of her children, got them educated, but also took the responsibility of me and my sister. She invested her time, gave wings to our dreams, encouraged us. But when I told her that I want to turn my acting hobby as my profession, she was skeptical”

Gowing up, Pratibha’s grandmother would tell her earnestly but with traditional caution, “Agar tu heroine ban gayi toh phir koi tujhse shaadi nahi karega.” It was an alarming declaration for Pratibha, who, by her own admission, was obsessed with getting married.

The grandmother’s reluctance was seeded in lack of awareness, the actor shares. In Mumbai, people going for shoots is something that comes in conversations more frequently than in Shimla, which is “just a vacation place for tourists”, not the open sky for dreamers.

“For the longest, we only had Preity Zinta who made it to the industry from there and my family would often say, ‘Sabki kismat Preity Zinta jaisi nahi hoti.’ In fact, I was also called by her name back in town, so growing up all that I heard is that I am a heroine and one day I will go to Mumbai. So I knew I had to figure a way out.”

Small girl in a big city

Despite a clear no from her family, Pratibha Ranta was sure that acting is what she wanted to do. After her 12th, she told her family that she was getting admission only in Mumbai university, and that too for BA in Filmmaking. Pratibha was smart, but the family was smarter. They knew the dreams she was cooking in her head but thought best not to stop her.

“They were like, ok, go, try it out. They knew why I wanted to come to Mumbai but were scared because of lack of awareness. ‘How will a young single girl survive in the city?'”

In Shimla, during an acting workshop, she became friends with a few and confided in them her Mumbai ambitions. It was also there where she heard about auditions hub ‘Versova’ and ‘Aaram Nagar’, area titles which quickly rang a bell when her elder sister–a NIIFT graduate–got a job in Andheri. Pratibha got a window and came with her sister to the city, just like thousands of acting aspirants.

“The moment I came, the first thing I did was to sit at Marine drive. There was something about the sea that spoke to me, I felt I would never get this humid wind of Mumbai in Shimla! First day, I explored the city like a tourist. Travelled in a crowded local and realized how everyone keeps running– it was fuel for me. Everyone working towards their dreams.”

When in Mumbai, her Facebook friends’ suggestions changed as per her new location and coupled with the information of her interests, the algorithm worked its magic. She sent friend requests to struggling actors and started talking to them for guidance. Her friend added her to an audition group, where Pratibha started sharing her profiles.

Auditions tip offs come with their risks, especially for women, who unfortunately need to differentiate shady calls from genuine casting openings. Pratibha relied on her instinct– and WhatsApp live locations.

“Sometimes when I look at my pictures of the past, I also wonder just how rebellious I was and continue to be. Because of that, I never cared too much, but I will be honest, when I was new to Bombay, there were times I would feel slightly scared when I was called for auditions in offices which wouldn’t show up on google maps. Then I would share my live location with my sister, but I never had any bad incident.”

Weight loss but big gain

She bagged her TV show–Qurbaan Hua– within six months of her arrival in Mumbai. It was a shocker for her family, who thought she would take at least three years–her entire graduation period–to come on screen. But at 18, Pratibha was already a sensation in Shimla.

“From where I come from, TV culture is stronger than films, because one has to travel really far to catch it on the big screen. So my TV debut became a big news. ‘Ranta ji beti TV pe aa rahi hai‘ was the sentiment and my family got major validation, which I needed back then. When you love away from your family, there are low days. When you are rejected after an audition, you come back to your empty house and crash. Eventually you have to sacrifice, and my sacrifice was family time. But I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it big if I didn’t do that.”

The TV industry made her financially independent, which led her family to look at her in a new gaze. They started to trust Pratibha’s decisions and backed her believing she was doing the right thing. “They never questioned me after that,” she beams.

Her family validation came at a crucial time for Pratibha, who was already hearing people doubting her will to make it big. The sentiment was, ‘What will this young girl, that too from Shimla, accomplish?’ But she muted the noise and with horse blinkers on, immersed herself in the long working hours of TV.

“I started working so hard on TV that I lost a lot of weight. I would feel bad but then it worked in my favour because when Jaya was being cast, they wanted a lean girl, which I was. The moment Kiran mam saw me, she said please call this girl!”

Laapataa Lady

When she watched Dangal, Pratibha wished if she could be launched in an Aamir Khan film. Years later, she was breaking the news of landing a lead part in Laapataa Ladies to her family. Her father, a huge movie buff and an Aamir Khan fan, was thrilled but one member just broke down: Her dadi.

“She cried and said, ‘Pehle toh hum tumhe kitna rokte the, ab tu humara naam roshan kar rahi hai.'” It was a touching moment for Pratibha, who didn’t know how exactly to handle the emotional overflow. “In a small-town family, you don’t even say I love you openly.  When my family displays emotions, I feel awkward, and wonder why are they becoming so senti?!”

But her family knew what it meant for their daughter and for them to stand in the midst of stars on the premiere night of the film. On the starry night, her parents confessed that they never thought they would ever come to Mumbai, meet Aamir Khan, be in the presence of Bollywood celebrities. The long route from Shimla’s apple orchids to Mumbai’s glamour was made possible only by their daughter.

“‘Hum Shimla se bahar jaane se pehle bhi do din sochte the ki kaise karege, puri planning karte the kyuki zimmmedaariya thi. But you have got us here,'” she recalls their words.

It was a similar emotion that her dadi felt, when she was in Mumbai to meet Pratibha. Every night she would come back home after exhausting promotions, the actor would her find her grandmother waiting for her even at 2 AM, half sleepy, but completely happy.

“My dadi believes in nazar, so there is a pahadi ritual she would do, she would take aata, circle it seven times over my head and then throw it. The fact that there was somebody waiting for me at home hit different. A lot of times when I would come to an empty home, I would directly crash.

“But my dadi would force me to have dinner. It used to annoy me as a child, then when I moved away there was no one to feed me and I missed it. Now when she was back at it, I felt alive again,” Pratibha pauses. This time the interruption isn’t because of any calls. After a few seconds of genuine silence, her chirpy voice is back. “They have all gone back now, if I talk more I will cry. I have a long way to go.”