Exclusive: To get married in 30s is difficult... - Rani M.

Married, and Mardaani', Rani Mukerji is her usual, busy, fast paced, pensive self before her cop flick's release. She seems to be doing ten things at the same time, carrying forward the same levels of energy to all of them, and coming across as a power packed dynamo. Pinkvilla catches up with Rani as Mrs Chopra, as tough cop and as an actress who still has a wish list of quality roles in her mind.

It's not unusual to see you in a woman oriented character, but your role in Mardaani casts you as a police officer for the first time. Playing strong roles onscreen, does that happen naturally? Do you get these roles anyway? Or do you also involve yourself in creating such characters?

To put in the right perspective, roles are offered to us as actors, we don't choose them. I give full credit to my directors and writers, who conceive me in those roles, and bring those roles to me for me accept them. I think the way they perceive me, as a strong woman, reflects in that. In most films I have always played a woman who is strong- whether she is mentally, physically or emotionally strong, I have always tried to portray a girl who has a voice, and a say, can stand up to society and has something to say. Because I have done such roles for a long time, I think they also come my way. I am very thankful for that, it's not as if I chose to do Black', or I wrote the script or told Sanjay Leela Bhansali to cast me in it. The same applies to No One Killed Jessica', or Veer Zaara' or Mardaani'. I think these films come my way because there must be some characteristic trait in me,that they think of me in those parts.

That brings me to the second part of this question. How creatively involved are you in a film? In Hindi cinema, heroines often do exactly as they are told. What do you bring to a film that sets you apart?

I step beyond just the instructions and that's why my directors love me. That sort of focus every filmmaker expects from an artist, that's the kind of involvement that I think bring on board. Because of the end of the day, when I am playing a character, I have to become it, I have to bring it to life. Obviously, that means I have to go beyond what is just written for the character. So when I deliver something beyond, something more, that gives my directors a high. It's one thing to just play what is written, and another to go beyond that and to bring in something additional. My directors tend to expect that from me, so as an artiste it becomes a huge responsibility to go beyond the character on paper. I feel very happy when the director says, that I have done more than what that I imagined, I think the job is done.

Like in Mardaani', when I had to play Shivani Shivaji Roy, I did not have a reference point. We don't get to hear much about a female crime branch officer, portrayals of cops in Hindi films have often been superhero like and larger than life. That's not what cops are like in real life, this is what cops have said to me themselves. So it was very imperative, that I do the right research and build this character in a realistic manner. There were two things. One, it was very important to change the mindset of people when they think of male and female cops, through this film. There is a gender bias when we think of cops, we always think of a police officer as a male. They can't imagine a woman being a cop. So that is one myth that needs to break with this, for there are a great number of brave, efficient female police officers in our country.

Secondly, I had to be with them, study them and observe their body language. When you are normally having a conversation with them, to when they are doing their job as police officers, there is a shift in their body language. So when they are interrogating, or when they are nabbing a criminal, or when they are speaking to a criminal, they become a completely another individual! So I saw them at work, and I decided that I needed to bring these features on to my character, this is a tribute that I want to give to them. I feel they are absolutely marvelous, because the female cops I met made me feel Wow'. I wondered why aren't they written about, why don't we talk about them, why do they remain unsung heroes?

Over the past 16 years, you've pretty much done roles of all kinds, in fact, some that many actresses would envy. Is there any one role today, that you would want to do now?

Before Mardaani', I have been saying in my interviews that I am dying to do an action film. And Mardaani' has turned out to be the perfect action film. In fact, its more than just an action thriller for me. The film will influence young girls who come to watch it, and spread the word, that women, must bring out the Mardaani in you, tap your Shakti', it's about time! For me, the film is more like a movement. And now, a role that I would like to try out is a biopic. I haven' t done one so far, and I have no done a classic period film. I would love to do roles like that. I don't mind a good romantic film, a comedy or a drama, but such scripts keep coming.

How do you switch off from these powerful women oriented roles on films, to being a wife at home? Post marriage, are you contented with life?

(Laughs) Exactly like I manage work on a film set! I take some control. And I am quite contented, for I suppose every girl always has that question, Who will be my husband?!' So I am actually in a space where of course, things have changed. I have shifted from my parents' home to my husband's home, so that's a big difference. Women in their Thirties are quite well settled, to get married in this phase is difficult because you have to be accommodating. I have realized I am quite accommodating in that sense, because I have adjusted pretty well. I think it's all thanks to Adi, because he is really liberal and modern in that sense. He's not really let me have the sense of a big shift, and he has given me the freedom to run the house the way I want it to run. Also, he lets me make the house look as I like it.

I think for a woman, how she feels after marriage, is completely dependent on how her partner is. When you are single, you live life on your own terms. When you are with a partner, he or she has to have the same mental equation as you. Only when that matches, can you have a really compatible zone going. He suddenly takes the place of your parents. I used to wake up to see my parents, say good night to them. Now I do that with Adi, so that's a change. But it's a nice change. I didn't know I would enjoy running the house so much! But it's good fun.

Reports in the past have suggested that you don't get along well with Vidya Balan. Any truth to that?

That is just a story, it's not true at all. There is no truth to that at all.