Shyam Benegal was one of the most revered and respected filmmakers in the country. Many actors and actresses were vying to be cast in his films; however, at the time, only a few select stars were considered for the roles. Taking this into account, veteran star Soni Razdan shared the kind of lengths she went to in order to be cast in one of Benegal’s features.
Soni Razdan shares whow she dyed her hair to work with Shyam Benegal
Soni Razdan, who starred in Shyam Benegal’s ‘Mandi’ once went to extreme lengths to be considered by him for a role. The actress, while in conversation with The Indian Express SCREEN, shared that she once even dyed her hair in order to fit the ‘type’ of heroines Benegal usually cast in his films.At the time, as his choice for the leading role in his films, used to go for Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil, and Razdan did not really feel that she fit the type. She shared, “The way I looked, especially in those days, was a complete anomaly to the Smita-Shabana prototype. I guess that was what he wanted.”Further on she added that she even dyed her hair specially so that she had more of a chance in being cast. “I remember I dyed my hair black so that I could look more like that, but he didn’t think so. I used to wear cotton saris and silver jewellery. I did everything I could, but he didn’t look at me the same way. So, what could I do? I tried. It was my bad”, she also mentioned.Despite everything, the veteran star did in fact work in two of Benegal’s films. She starred in ‘Mandi’ which was released in 1983, and revolved around a brothel and starred Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil, as well as Ratna Pathak, Neena Gupta, Sreela Majumdar, Anita Kanwar, and Ila Arun to name a few. She also appeared in ‘Trikal’ which was released in 1985. While talking about her experience filming, Razdan shared that “We’d just wait with bated breath before he’d decide where to place which actor because there are so many of us. It was a wonderful experience.”On the work front, the actress and director appeared on the big screen last year in ‘Songs of Paradise.’ She also last starred in the OTT series, ‘Brown’ this year, and played the role of Janice Brown.