Shyam Benegal is one of the most revered and respected filmmakers in the country. Many actors and actresses competed to be cast in his films; however, at the time, only a select few stars were considered for the roles. Considering this, veteran star Soni Razdan shared the kind of lengths he went to to bring one of the parts of Benegal.
Soni Razdan shares how she dyed her hair to work with Shyam Benegal
Soni Razdan, who starred in Shyam Benegal’s ‘Mandi’ once went to extreme lengths he considered for a role. The actress, while talking to The Indian Express SCREEN, shared that she dyed her hair once to match the ‘type’ of the characters that Benegal usually casts in his films.At that time, as his choice for the main role in his films, he used to go for Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil, and Razdan never felt that he fit the type. He shared, “The way I looked, especially at that time, was a complete anomaly of the Smita-Shabana prototype. I think that’s what she wanted.”He added that he even dyed his hair especially to increase his chances of being cast. “I remember I dyed my hair black to make me look better, but he didn’t mind. I used to wear cotton saris and silver jewelry. I did everything I could, but he didn’t look at me the same way. So, what can I do? I tried. This is my bad”, he also said.Despite everything, the veteran star actually worked in two of Benegal’s films. She starred in ‘Mandi’ which was released in 1983, and revolved around a brothel and starred Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil, as well as Ratna Pathak, Neena Gupta, Sreela Majumdar, Anita Kanwar, and Ila Arun to name a few. He also appeared in ‘Trikal’ which was released in 1985. While talking about his filming experience, Razdan shared that “We’d just wait with bated breath before he’d decide where to cast which actress because we had so many. It was a great experience.”On the work front, the actress and director appeared on the big screen last year in ‘Songs of Paradise.’ She also last starred in the OTT series, ‘Brown’ this year, and played the role of Janice Brown.