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Namrata Shirodkar may now be widely known as Mahesh Babu’s wife, but there was a time when she ruled screens with her charm and powerful presence. From stealing attention in multi-starrers to lighting up songs and even leaving an impact in brief roles, she truly made her mark! In this exclusive throwback interview with Lehren, Namrata speaks candidly about choosing multi-starrers over solo films and how those choices helped her grow as an actress. She also opens up about working with Mahesh Manjrekar in films like Vaastav, Astitva and Tera Mera Saath Rahen, and why the right director makes all the difference. But there’s more to this honest conversation than you expect… watch the full interview only on Lehren.

#namratashirodkar #namratashirodkarghattamaneni #maheshmanjrekar #vaastav #teramerasaathrahen #ajaydevgn #sonalibendre #maheshbabu #throwback #podcast #lehren

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Transcript
00:00when you do a film or you sign a film on basis of the script on basis of the
00:04director I would think that you want your film to be a success today if you
00:09really go to see out of ten films you have like eight films that have two
00:13heroes and two heroes or you have one hero and two heroes the Hindi film
00:17industry is really you know that's how it's happening it's I think your rapport
00:23with your director that helps you you know bring out the best in your character
00:34welcome to Lera Javata to start with some general questions how is it that we
00:43find you doing less and less of solos or rather negligible solo films and more and
00:48more with some other heroine or paired with or smaller roles like Astithwa or
00:54item roles that like to be very honest with you first of all Astithwa was done
01:03as a complete on a very friendly basis for Mahesh who I know very well and he
01:13wanted an established face to play that character which had only two scenes so I
01:20don't think he was in a position to ask anybody for a favor and I wasn't I'm not
01:29really sure if he thought that somebody would do it for him you know so it was
01:35because it was an out-and-out taboos film so it was basically if you're talking in
01:40terms of Astithwa I it was just done on a very friendly basis with Mahesh and I had
01:47just like a day shooting for it as for your next question of item songs I've done just
01:55one and I haven't done any more because that's not what I really want to do and solo films
02:03I am doing two actually right now one is a so-called art film and with Sanjay Suri it's
02:12it's on the lines of I would say you know about this rape victim who is an IS
02:22officer's wife it's called Bandhak and there's another film with Chandra Choor which is it's about
02:32the part it's it deals with the partition of India and the very serious kind of
02:41films you know it's like it's not very I won't say if you're talking of commercial
02:49commercial cinema I mean today if you really go to see out of 10 films you have like
02:56eight films that have two heroes and two heroines or you have one hero and two
03:00heroes that's how I think the flow of the Hindi film industry is really you know
03:08that's how it's happening so I wouldn't really say that it's a conscious effort
03:14I'm making to work with two girls or where there are two heroes or just one
03:20hero and two girls or whatever it's just that the scripts that interest me have
03:24two girls and if I have to sit and wait say no solo hero ke saath hi film karni hai
03:36toh I don't know whether it will be worth my while because even solo projects don't
03:42really work as for like if you if you even pull out like the last ten films that
03:49have really done well they are either multi starters or they are like you know they have
03:54two heroes or two heroines or one hero and two heroines it's basically I would think that today's
04:00way of making movies is basically you need a lot of glamour which probably and the hit and flop ratio
04:09of
04:09having a solo star as compared to a multi starter the hit ratio is much more in films like this
04:18going
04:19by what you've said so how will it sound if we ask you that you are more looking at film
04:26becoming a hit
04:27are you looking at the growth of your as an actor see I would say I'm looking at the growth
04:33of an
04:33actress if I'm not really sure if you understood what I said it's basically a you know when you
04:40choose a film on basis of its script and its director and you agree to do a film you are
04:45looking
04:46at the character that you're playing it necessarily doesn't have to be a solo character I wouldn't think
04:52that a solo film enhances your performance levels of in any way even if there are two girls in a
05:00film
05:00if you are a good actor you can show your talent films like uh like I've always said
05:08um in the recent uh times there are films like chori chori chupke chupke or har dil jo piaar karega
05:17or bb number one or essentially which are multi-starters but they are commercial successes as well as the
05:24performances have been appreciated by the masses as well so we are not looking at um i'm i'm not
05:34trying to say that by doing a solo film you're going to get the applaud or the uh appreciation
05:42that you won't get doing two hero or two heroine films so i don't understand the i i've simply don't
05:51understand the concept when people say tum aap uh solo films itni kam kyun kar rahi hai it it for
06:00me
06:00when i choose a character it has to appeal to me the uh director has to be capable the production
06:07has
06:07to be sound and the script has to be great and you basically make a good film when you have
06:14these
06:14three things you know working with each other in sync so basically when you have a hit formula
06:23in terms of these three things which are intertwined with each other you make a good film
06:29and sometimes a good film necessarily does not mean a hit film a good film is doing good work
06:35which is what i believe in so are you looking forward to any such roles that you think
06:40well to be very honest uh prati bimb is one which is a completely uh way out of line character
06:49for me
06:49in terms of uh what i'm playing it's it's like an extension of vast of but in a more mature
06:56way
06:57so um it it requires a lot of performance it requires a lot of uh dedication in terms of trying
07:04to portray a character which is slightly older than my age and um much older than my age rather
07:12and uh at the same time there is another film um film which is uh kabhi dhup kabhi chhaan which
07:23is
07:23the remake of i that is maisha's home production then there is rajji's uh one film that we're still
07:31we haven't really finalized the details of the film and um then there is uh one kutub most probably
07:40which i will be doing with my age so um there are a few films lined up which has a
07:47very um impressionable
07:49characters that i'm playing which are very um central which are very uh very important
07:58coming to tera mera satray do tell us about your role in this film tera mera satray essentially is
08:08a film of emotions it's it's uh it's a film made with a social message a message that uh would
08:19tell people that dealing with handicapped children and uh giving them love is more important than trying
08:28to figure out a place for them to stay which is apart from their own home and um it's a
08:35message about
08:35love it's a message about um emotions it's a message about relationships
08:46how to deal with relationships of different kinds and um it is a very uh heartwarming film i would say
08:54and my role in the film is that of a girl who is very independent who is very mupat you
09:01know like
09:02she's she's very straight to the face um it's again a very different character from what i've played in
09:08most of my other films it's i would say that it is a more different version of the character i
09:14played
09:14in albela but uh slightly more uh down market um it is um i would like you know a girl
09:26living in a
09:26chawl basically and her attitude who is still super confident and uh who still wants to win the world over
09:33and um she i mean she lives life by her rules basically and um she would do anything to get
09:45love which is so important like i said i mean this film spreads the message of love in different forms
09:52so is yeah this film is sonari bhi hai ji to who eventually gets the guy or is it something
10:01like
10:01that it has got nothing to do with who eventually gets the guy because this story is essentially about
10:06two brothers and um it's their emotional upheavals and it is um it is basically the uh thing about
10:19you know it's i i really don't want to divulge the story at this point but it is essentially a
10:26role
10:26of uh it is essentially a story of these people who have come together through circumstances and then
10:35uh how they deal with the situations as they come along
10:48how was the experience this time but this time i worked with him a little more uh i had much
10:55more
10:55work with him than i did in kache dhage my work was essentially with saif then and um i hardly
11:01worked
11:01with ajay but the little that i knew him then and what i've known him now he is uh as
11:11always
11:11great to work with and uh extremely cooperative uh very very um genuine and uh very straightforward
11:21person and um he doesn't have hangups about uh you know about what he does or who he is or
11:30you know and basically um working with me for the second time he made me feel very very comfortable
11:37so um i never had any problems with him so nali i've known uh i did i no i haven't
11:45really done a film
11:46with her before but um
11:48um we just knew each other because we shared the same designer at one point and um i just knew
11:57her
11:58because she used to also model before and i just know her for very long so we're like really good
12:05friends we never had friends we never had a problem
12:14you can't really call a film because it was a day's work and it was just
12:19you know uh i would say um though i would love to be associated with it because it's a very
12:25well made
12:26film but apart from that i would say work wise after vast of i think tera mera satra is my
12:33second
12:33film with him how do you rate and how do you find magesh
12:37see like i've said um i'm very comfortable working with him
12:40um and um i think he's one um he's one of the best directors we have today in our industry
12:50he's a
12:50very talented person and he knows his job and he knows how to get work done from his artists
12:56he doesn't compromise as per um you know like he won't say ki achha you can't do it this way
13:04then do
13:04it this way he wants it done in a certain way and you have to deliver it and he makes
13:08sure of that
13:09which is why you have such strong performances of his characters or at least characters actors who
13:16are directors actors and i think i'm a director's actor so for me um i think he brings out the
13:23best
13:23in me like rajji when i worked on pukar with rajji rajji is another uh person who is uh who
13:31i think is
13:32one of the best people we have and um i'm very comfortable working with him as well so um you
13:39know
13:39it's it's it's i think your um rapport with your director that helps you uh you know bring out
13:48the best of bring out the best in your character and i think um i'm very comfortable working with
13:54both of them mahiji and rajji yeah what are your expectations well to be very honest i've been out
14:02of town i haven't really um been around to hear the buzz even so i really don't know but all
14:09i can say
14:10is we've worked very hard on the film and we've done i think we've done a good job out of
14:15it and
14:16from what i hear people saying that it's turned out to be a great film so um as every actor
14:22expects
14:23his film to do really well at the end of the day at the box office i would expect it
14:28to do really
14:28well and if it does i guess we all will benefit from it so tell me what is the real
14:34namrata is it
14:34the is it the chubby namrata that you that we see or is it an introvert or what do you
14:42see i find a face
14:45which is quite baby but well see different people have different opinions but i would um i would say
14:54um a lot of people think i'm arrogant or they probably until they meet me so i wouldn't i would
15:02say i'm i'm not arrogant and i am very very friendly depending on the people i meet and
15:12see i have to uh you know get along with somebody i'm not i won't go up to people i
15:20to strangers and
15:21say hello how are you i'm namrata and all that if if i know you i'm or if i've met
15:26you even once
15:27through somebody or if i've been introduced to you i will make it a point to come and say hello
15:31to you
15:32but i won't go out of my way that's it
15:37you
15:38you
15:39you
15:39you
15:40you
15:42you
15:42you
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