Grover C. Magnus 
Pooja Bhatt (Photo courtesy: Aniruddh Kothari / Netflix)
With Bombay Begumes, actress Pooja Bhatt returned to the camera after a decade. While Pooja has received high praise since the series premiered on Netflix, it’s the fact that she could be playing her age that appealed to her the most about signing this series.
In an exclusive conversation with INDULGE, the 49-year-old actress said, “While the most appealing thing about my character is the power he exudes, for me the key was really to be able to play my age. Alankrita Shrivastava (the show’s creator) was very clear that Rani is a 49-year-old woman struggling with menopause. It was a relief to be able to play your age and talk about the real issues, let it be me. ‘Is going through menopause or a 12- year-old girl navigating puberty or a woman in her 30s struggling with pregnancy. “
Interestingly, Pooja had turned down the show when it was first offered to him due to a conflicting dates.
“I was first approached in August 2019. At that time, I was working on Sadak 2 and I couldn’t leave it in the middle so I had to decline this offer. A month later, they contacted me again to ask if I would like to meet Alankrita Shrivastava and I agreed. When she first started talking about the show, I could see how clearly she knew Rani and how long she had to live with her. Rani is a very powerful yet complex character, it wasn’t a tone from any angle and it was with other female characters. Miraculously, it all fell into place and we started filming at the end of October. “
Pooja also noted that if the artists think they are the ones who choose the projects, it is in fact the opposite. “We think we choose the project. But, I think the projects and roles choose us. Rani chose me. And I couldn’t have asked for a better OTT debut.”
Read the full interview here.
