It’s a shame that subjects on TV are restrictive: Soni Razdan
After a busy career in the ’80s that saw her acting in the hit Doordarshan TV series, Buniyaad, as well as in many films such as 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981) and Saaransh (1984), senior actor Soni Razdan has been a part of a few projects in recent years. However, she’s soon going to be back on the tube in a TV show where she plays a grandmother.
“A TV show is different from a film. It is tough, exhausting, and yet is invigorating. It keeps you on your toes. At the end of the day, when you deliver a good scene, you feel good. When I did TV in the ’80s, it was very different — the content, the subjects, the execution; everything. When I did Buniyaad, we had a lot of time to shoot an episode. In 2002, I directed a show called, Aur Phir Ek Din, and even then it was quite relaxed, as we shot for 12 days a month. We had more time to devote to an episode,” she says.
Although she isn’t looking to work in TV shows regularly, Razdan feels it’s interesting that technology has advanced, and that things move faster these days. She adds, “Today, making or working in a TV show means one has to be on a treadmill to produce this volume of work. It is fascinating to be a part of a TV show. However, it’s a shame that the subjects on TV today are quite restrictive, unlike when we made weeklies. The content was more creative and one could experiment. That doesn’t seem to be the case today.”
Razdan says her daughter Alia Bhatt was more than keen that she should take up her current project. The senior actor says, “She was happy about the role and asked me if I was sure. She wondered if I was capable of doing a daily, but she encouraged me to take it up.”
Razdan admits this show wasn’t a planned move. In fact, when the makers approached her, she told them she wasn’t interested in doing TV. “But they were insistent on a meeting, and I ended up liking the idea, as it was an unusual project. It was a sly move (laughs), but one thing led to another,” she says.
A TV show is totally different from a film. It is tough, exhausting and yet is invigorating. It keeps you on your toes. SONI RAZDAN, ACTOR