Farida Jalal: Want to play a negative character but no filmmaker wants to take that risk

While many actors are still sceptical to take the big jump towards the web, Jalal has been part of many successful outings. While she debuted on the web three years back with YRF’s Love Shots, her recent short film Mehraam received a lot of critical acclaim. The 69-year-old said, “Change is inevitable and you need to move with time. I would have been left behind if I didn’t think of taking up work in the growing medium. But I must laud these makers, who think of me for their projects. They approach me with so much love and respect.”

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The veteran actor further said, “As a person, I believe in looking at everything positively. Be it films, television or web, as actors, all that you need to be worried is your character. The biggest difference I find is that there’s very less time now. I come from the world of feature films, where we worked on a role for a long time. Now everything needs to be done in a jiffy. There is no ‘thehraav’ (permanence) anymore. It’s less on television and almost missing from the web space.”

Farida Jalal might have already impressed the audience with her stellar performances but the hunger for good roles is yet to satiate. She said, “It’s really sad that no one wants to write meaty roles for women of our age. We are only offered the done and dusted roles. All my counterparts, we meet and discuss the same thing. I want the writers and filmmakers to challenge me.”

Sharing that while she is confident of pulling off any roles, producers don’t want to take risks. “I am dying to do a negative role. I haven’t done that and I am sure the audience will be happily surprised. But these filmmakers tell me that audience ‘humein gaali denge’ (will abuse us). But I think today the audience is really smart and accepting. How will we know about their reaction unless we try? I would also love to do a courtroom drama and play a lawyer,” the actor shared.

When asked if she believes the industry will change in the coming time, Jalal smiled to say, “I really don’t know but I can just hope it does. It’s really sad that after working for so long, you are craving for good roles.”