‘I DID OMPROMISE ON UALITY OF FILMS IN MY CAREER’

Actor Mahima Chaudhry admits that in the past, she took up one project after another just to stay ‘busy’

SI do get scripts, but as an actor, you are so ambitious, you just want to wait for the correct one. MAHIMA CHAUDHRY,, Actorr

he may not be too active on the work front, but Mahima Chaudhry is certainly not forgotten. “I’m not in your face, but I’m definitely in (your) memory, because of my films and songs,” says the actor, who has starred in Pardes (1997) and Dhadkan (2000), among others. She adds, “Some songs have a great shelf life, like Yeh Mera India (Pardes), which is played on Independence Day in schools... Such things have kept me in memory.”

Chaudhry, who was recently conferred with an honorary doctorate for her contribution to the world of entertainment, has been away from the field for five years now. Ask her why, and she says she didn’t want to “lose patience and do something average”. “With OTT becoming so popular, platforms are getting bigger and bigger, audience is increasing .... you just want to wait for the correct project,” she admits.

And, the reason she is willing to wait is that she has taken some rash decisions in the past. “I did compromise on quality. You just want to stay busy sometimes. When I started off, if you didn’t do five films a year, you were not successful! They used to say, ‘Paanch filmon mein se ek hit ho jaayegi’. Whoever had the most number (of releases) got more hits. That was the era,” she reveals.

But, things have changed now. Chaudhry, 47, adds, “Today, you pick up subjects, make noise for a whole year about that and survive. Money has got bigger as well.”