Op-ed Page/ Scripting a return

I’m just not comfortable with the word ‘comeback’. A doctor is a doctor, even if he takes a little break, similarly an actor is an actor, even when he/she is on a break. Besides, the graph of actors always keeps going up and down — some of their films do well, some don’t. For instance, 2013 was Deepika Padukone’s year, but the year before belonged to Vidya Balan’s year, so if she does a film after a year, that does not mean it’s her comeback film.
The same is the case with Madhuri Dixit. She had done Aaja Nachle a few years ago, so Dedh Ishqiya is definitely not her comeback film, more so since we’ve been seeing her on television as well. It’s a matter of choice. If someone is doing less films in a year, then they might just want to wait a little more and pick up the right film.
It’s also a little unfair to call a film a comeback film, because it builds so much pressure on the actor to do something nice, especially when they’ve all been so successful in the past already. What is important is to understand that when a film having an actress, who’s being seen on the big screen after a long gap, fails, it’s more to do with the script than the actress.
Cinema largely depends on a script, irrespective of the stars in a film. Nothing is more important than the script. I think sometimes the script choices of certain actors may not have been correct. Having said that, despite the mixed reviews, I really liked Dedh Ishqiya, and I think it was a bold choice on Madhuri Dixit’s part, because it’s not a quintessential Bollywood film, and different from what she has been seen doing in the past. But sometimes, despite a good script, how a film turns out to be, and how you are accepted depends on a lot of things. Sridevi has never been seen in the kind of role she had in English Vinglish. She is a glamourous person. There’s no dancing and other frills in the film — in fact, these were some misconceptions that I had about her and wondered if she would give her nod to a film like English Vinglish. The reason my respect for Sridevi went up after I met her is that she has this ability to see a role that works for her, to be able to have that vision. I don’t know how many people would have seen a film like English Vinglish on paper, and actually have the guts to say that I’ll do it. But she did that. Not all actors have a great sense of script and even if they did, they are operating within a few limited choices. So, sometimes it’s also a little to do with luck.
At the end of it, the image doesn’t matter. What is important is the versatility of an actor to get into the skin of a character, and choosing roles that suit them at every point of life.
The point is to not expect only lead roles, but to be able to do character roles. Not the typical mother-father roles, but interesting roles which may be short in length, but make a strong impact. Even somebody like Aamir Khan has done multistarrers. There are so many ensemble cast movies being made nowadays, it offers a lot of scope for interesting characters. Actors should be open to doing such movies. Someone like Juhi Chawla? She never really went away. She’s gracefully moved into doing various kind of roles. And that’s how it can be!
As told to Ankita R. Kanabar