Married actresses, mothers considered dead commodity: Rani Mukherjee

Actor Rani Mukherjee has opened up about the discrimination married actresses face in Bollywood and how she hopes that her upcoming film Hichki will change this perception.

In an interview with the Indian Express, the 40-year-old actress said, that despite being married and having a kid, nothing has changed about her.

Riding on the success of her recently released film, Hichki, the actress revealed that once an actress is married or has had children she is considered dead to the industry.

“There are basic prejudices that come with married actresses and those who are mothers. How we are a dead commodity. We don’t sell and that no one wants to see us,” she said.

“Actors don’t get this. They have a successful career and parallelly lead their normal lives. Only actresses are made to choose marriage late in their lives because they feel our commodity dies once we are married”.

For her, when speaking of her film's success it's the audience who matter. "The opinion of the audience matters. It’s never the actor. It’s the audience because as an actor I will always give my 100 per cent like I gave before I became a mother," she said.

She also shared the moment she fell in love with acting was right after Mujhse Dosti Karoge and Saathiya. 

 "Till then it was a job for me because I hadn’t fallen in love with acting. I was just doing my job and coming home. But then the fan letters I used to get made me feel I need to give more. I felt this profession was more serious than I imagined it to be."

When asked about her change from being cautious and holding back to now being outspoken and opinionated, the actress said people are more accepting of a person now than they used to be in the past.

“Today, people are more accepting of you. They don’t keep you on a pedestal. Everyone’s looking at you as a normal person. That’s also the persona you want to project that yes, we are stars but we are also attainable and we can make mistakes. Even if I have an opinion that doesn’t mean it has to be everyone else’s. No one’s going to take it so seriously that they will change their lives. And if they do, then great but they are aware that Rani also has flaws”.