Bengali actor Swastika Mukherjee says she has braved through several highs and lows in her career to stay independent and fearless.
Swastika Mukherjee, who stars in “Black Widow”, “Paatal Lok” and “Dil Bechara”. and is known for her unconventional choice of films, also said, “It’s tiring, it’s exhausting to be fearless.”
She added that she has been very particular about the projects she becomes a part of, even if it means that she does less work. “If I wanted to do mediocre work, I could be shooting every day,” she added.
Mukherjee said that her inclination towards women-centric stories meant she wasn’t working with “so-called heroes”, but she was still making her mark in the industry. There came a time when men didn’t want to work with her, she added.
In a recent interview, the actress admits that this stems from the gender-based stereotypes she has faced in the Indian entertainment industry.
Actress said ,“I was already a mother when I started acting and there were a lot of people in the industry, mostly men, who told me, ‘Don’t tell people you have a child’ as it will be difficult for a woman to become a heroine if people know you’re a mother.
However, she didn’t want to conceal such an important part of identity.
The actress states : “It’s important men fantasies about heroines, otherwise you won’t be successful as a star.” Mukherjee said she was clear she didn’t want to begin her journey in the film industry by concealing such a strong part of her identity.
“I would tell people that if actresses need that part of the audience which go gaga over you and feel you’re hot, I’d achieve all of that putting it upfront that I’m a mother,” she said.
Swastika Mukherjee added that she has always followed her instincts and not the trends. Her latest, Black Widows, is a dark comedy about three women who try to kill their abusive husbands, but one of the men survives and comes back to extract revenge. The series is directed by Birsa Dasgupta and features Mona Singh, Raima Sen, Shamita Shetty, Sharad Kelkar, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Aamir Ali and Sabyasachi Chakraborty along with Swastika Mukherjee
According to Mukherjee actors should be aware of their social responsibility. “It’s important that what you feel and think, become a part of your work as well. It makes you happy that what you’re fighting for, you’re also doing it on camera,” she said.
