Don’t like ‘me, myself, and nobody else’ mood: Ratna Pathak Shah on working in ensembles

PTI, Oct 10, 2023, 4:24 PM IST

Stories centered on one character are ”boring”, believes actor Ratna Pathak Shah, who says she thrives on the energy of working in an ensemble project. After featuring in multistarrer TV shows ”Filmy Chakkar”, ”Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai” and films such as ”Kapoor & Sons” and ”Lipstick Under My Burkha”, the cinema-theatre veteran will next be seen in ”Dhak Dhak”, a road trip film fronted by four women actors.

“I’m not the kind of a person who is looking for a central part in everything. I like an ensemble and working with others. I like the kind of energy that is produced when different kind of people come together, male or female. ”I don’t like this ‘me, myself, and nobody else’ mood. I find those films boring to watch also. I love watching ‘Friends’, there’s no one star in it. I’m finding those one-star kinds of things boring now-a-days,” Shah told PTI in an interview here. The 66-year-old actor said she is fortunate to get interesting characters at this age. ”Today, they are getting me parts for which I’ll be good, and a lot of the times, they are interesting. Fortunately, interesting movies with interesting parts for women my age are being made today. I happen to be at the right time at the right place.” Shah said she is getting more work now than her days as a young actor. ”I’ve been lucky to have constantly had a chance to break out of these stereotypical mould or characters,” she added.

In ”Dhak Dhak”, Shah plays the role of Mahi, fondly called ‘Biker Nani’. Her desire is to visit Ladakh’s famous Khardung-La pass, the highest motorable road in the world. The film revolves around four characters played by Shah, Dia Mirza, Sanjana Sanghi, and Fatima Sana Shaikh, who join forces for an extraordinary journey filled with emotions, adventures, and self-discovery as they embark on a biking expedition.

Shah said she liked the film’s plot, but wasn’t sure about riding a bike. She decided to do the movie after being persuaded by actor Arshad Warsi. “First, my reaction was, ‘My God, I’ll be a biker and will I ever be able to do this?’. When I was offered this film and I had gone to a party and there I had met Arshad (Warsi) and he said, ‘I’ve heard that there’s somebody making a film about women bikers and they want you to play it? You are going to do it, na?’ ”I was like, ‘Are you crazy, me on a bike, now?’. He said, ‘They will look after you, don’t be silly, you have to do it’. He gave me so much confidence, then suddenly I felt, ‘I could possibly imagine doing this’,” said the actor, who trained in bike riding for over a month. Directed by Tarun Dudeja and co-written by Parijat Joshi and Dudeja, ”Dhak Dhak” is set to hit the theatres on October 13. It is produced by Viacom18 Studios in collaboration with Taapsee Pannu and Pranjal Khandhdiya’s production company Outsider Films in association with BLM Pictures.