Sonali Bendre opened up about the emotional toll of playing Mona in Prime Video’s crime thriller ‘Raakh’. The actor said the character’s quiet sadness and limited dialogue made the role very internalized. While he found working without long dialogue scenes easier than expected, leaving the character after a day on set proved more difficult. Bendre said that the speed of Mona’s journey sometimes followed her home during the shooting.Bendre was speaking to IANS after the release of ‘Raakh’, which is currently streaming on Prime Video. The series is a fictional investigative thriller set in the late 1970s and draws inspiration from the Ranga-Billa case involving the kidnapping and murder of sisters Geeta and Sanjay Chopra in Delhi.
Sonali Bendre to play Mona in ‘Raakh’
Bendre said that the writing and preparation behind the series gave him a solid foundation before he started performing. “More than 50%, I would say, is done,” he said, relying on the material provided by the team.Mona has relatively few spoken lines in the series. Bendre says this aspect works in his favor. “Not having dialogues was the easier part for me,” he said, adding that he no longer finds it easy to memorize pages of dialogue as he did earlier in his career.The actor explained that silence brings a different challenge. With few lines, he had to convey Mona’s pain through expression, pauses, and emotional control. That process requires him to hold the character’s state of mind for a longer period of time.Bendre said that the role became more real because it had to be internalized. He described how difficult it was to separate himself from Mona once the cameras stopped rolling.
‘Raakh’ cast and story of crime thriller
“It is more internalized and that also makes it more real,” said Bendre while discussing his approach to that role. He admits that he finds it difficult to let go of the character at the end of the day.“It’s a character I try to leave behind on the sets,” he said. “I bring it home sometimes and that scares me.”“Raakh” follows an investigation that sets in motion a nationwide manhunt and explores the clash between crime and justice. The show uses a fictional format while drawing from a case that shocked Delhi in the late 1970s.The series stars Ali Fazal, Sonali Bendre, Aamir Bashir, Akash Makhija, and Ramandeep Yadav. Prosit Roy directed and executive produced the show. Bendre’s comments highlight how Mona’s restrained presence shapes her performance in ‘Raakh’, where emotion often comes through silence rather than speech.
