Family dramas are a lost cause: Renuka Shahane

Actor Renuka Shahane might be best known for the film Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994), but she started her acting journey on the small screen with the nineties’ shows Surabhi, Circus, Imtihaan, Junoon, Sailaab, among others. However, now, the actor says it is “unfortunate” that, today, she doesn’t watch any serial. Why?

“I’ve never been an elitist when it comes to television. A lot of people love saying that they don’t watch TV, and they are still part of the industry. But I am not among those. I’m a home person, and TV is one of the things that I enjoy watching. But sadly, the general entertainment channel space for Hindi is really limited. So, I watch food and travel channels,” explains Renuka, who will act in a special episode of the remake of TV show Khichdi.

Like many other erstwhile TV actors, who are unhappy with the “regressive” content being shown on TV, she feels that scripts need a makeover. “The family drama thing is a lost cause. It has very little for an urban working woman, the states which I represent. Even metro-centric shows rarely show women doing things that they are actually struggling with. So, I am disconnected from the stories coming from regressive cultures. I think we should get over with it now,” says Renuka.

However, she doesn’t rule out the fact that such shows are also based in reality. “There are scores of people who live lives like this in a regressive sort of patriarchal way, but if you keep hammering only that, just because it works, I don’t think we — people providing content — are doing a correct job. There has to be a balance. If there is a will to do something different, even if that doesn’t get TRP, one must try,” she stresses.