Rani Mukerji on Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway’s box office, sticking to theatres and why she won’t come on OTT: ‘I’d always do things for big screen’

In an interview with indianexpress.com, Rani Mukerji opens up about what the numbers for Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway mean to her, how she navigated the constant chatter before the release that the film should be dropped on OTT and why she will always remain the quintessential big screen film actor.

Edited excerpts:

 

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How does the success feel like?

I’m just so grateful that people have given this movie a chance and they’ve actually spent their hard-earned money and gone and watched my movie. But I’m just so grateful because this new fashionable word of ‘OTT content’ is just getting to me. For an artiste who has always been a cinema lover, for me to get that throughout making a film, to wonder after the film, ‘Will people come, will people not come?’ I just had a single belief in my heart that a good film will always find its audience. People have proven me right, so I can only be thankful to them.

Were there people around you, who said that this is not the correct time for a drama film to hit theatres as the big screen is dominated by spectacles, why don’t you shift it on OTT?

I would be lying if I say no. See, it was always decided that it’s going to be a theatrical release. But obviously there was nervousness because whenever a film was releasing and not working on the big screen, that pressure used to come. But I would say that with due respects, my producers also stuck by what they had promised me. And as a team, we were very confident of the film we wanted to give to the audience, and we stuck by that belief. In spite of so much chatter of ‘let’s not do this, let’s not do that,’ we actually stayed with our belief. Today by God’s grace, we feel more victorious because of this. The success, I would say, is sweeter.

 

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How was the weekend like for you though, when the film came out? 

I was blown away, because it was doubling up, becoming bigger than the previous day. For me that goes to show that there is so much of chatter about the film and there’s so much of good word of mouth that people are going and giving this film so much love. So, of course that makes me immensely happy because I’ve always said that as a cinema actor, box office is the biggest validation for my work. Because it is always the number of people that go and see your work and when so many people see your work, give you a thumbs up, it’s the best feeling for an actor. Because you work hard only for that validation. People’s reward is greater to me than anything.

The numbers that the film started doing also shows that there is a lot of faith that the audience has in you. 

Yes, it is a huge deal, especially in the post pandemic time. Where it is a woman led film then it is a content-based film. It’s a poster with a mother with two children. It is all the minuses that can come for a person to feel attracted to see a film! It’s not a very easy sell, you know what I’m saying? But it’s always the content which is greater than anyone of us put together. The audience is the king, they can smell a good film and a bad film. Their senses are really strong. We got validated a bit when our trailer came out. It really gave us the momentum and feeling that it has been received so well. we just crossed our fingers that it relates to the box office now.

And there’s a clear difference between watching a film on OTT and catching it on the big screen.

When you’re watching a film like this in a theatre, you’ll connect more. When you’re watching a film at home, people can see your face. In the darkness of a cinema hall, when you cry for her, there’s catharsis. No one’s watching you there, unlike watching a film at home, where everyone can see you, your face, your reaction. Cinema halls just transports you to another world. I’d always, always do things for the big screen because I’m a cinema actor. That’s an experience I can’t trade for anything in the world. When you watch a film in a cinema hall, you make plans, specifically. You make an effort there and not like come home after a long day of work and say, ‘Let’s scroll what’s there to watch.’ What’s the meaning of that? We work so hard, not for people to just decide should we click this button or not. At least we want that kind of respect that they’re making a plan for us. That’s what drives us.