Soha Ali Khan reveals her desire to play grey characters like bhai, Saif Ali Khan
With three back-to-back releases, actor Soha Ali Khan is literary on a roll. Now when she is readying for her fourth release very soon, Soha confesses that she is enjoying her moment in the sun. Be it fiery Ranjana in 'Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster Returns' or an ambitious TV reporter in 'War Chhod Na Yaar' and an inspector in 'Mr Joe B. Carvalho', she enjoyed playing the variety of roles that came her way.
What stood out in her last releases was her attempt at comedy, a genre she wanted to dabble in for long. “A lot of films that come my way tend to be intense and drama-oriented. Or I mostly get roles of a demure looking girl. Or since I am from a particular family, I get roles with certain royal lineage.
However, I made attempts to change this trend by doing something like 'War Chhod Na Yaar' and 'Mr Joe B. Carvalho'. In real life, people have told me stuff like, ‘you are always putting your foot in your mouth and you are quite ridiculous and foolish at times’. Therefore, I lapped at the chance of doing a comedy,” says Soha.
Proud of her choice, Soha says it gave her creative pleasure and helped her do stuff she hadn’t done in 10 years of her career — wearing a bikini and doing action sequences. “Women as actors have so many facets to them and nobody wants to be typecast. I enjoyed doing the action in 'Mr Joe B. Carvalho' because I thought nobody would give me this opportunity as I am very small and demure looking. I find these roles fascinating since I never had the opportunity to play such exciting roles earlier. Plus, I was comfortable sporting a swimsuit on the screen,” she adds.
However, the number of projects that Soha is signing establishes the fact that the industry is open to giving 30-plus actresses a lot of chance and Soha believes in making hay while the sun shines. “I want to keep working. Unfortunately, my mother’s fear about this industry is that being a woman, the older you get the less you earn. I feel time is changing as people are accepting women in their 30s and accept them in different shapes and sizes. There is space for everyone in the industry today,” says the actress.
Talking about her dream roles, Soha says there is still a lot left to be done. “I have not done as much romance as I would like to do. I would definitely like to be a part of more romcoms, which might capture little bit of who I really am. I don’t think that who I am has come on-screen as yet. Also, I would like to play a dark character like bhai (Saif Ali Khan). There are many aspects to a personality and I have dark aspects to my own personality. It will be so colourful to play a dark character than play a vanilla heroine,” she says.
Talking about her next, 'Chaarfutiya Chhokare', Soha says she is enjoying being a part of this social thriller. “It is back into that intense phase. It is a small film mainly because there is no hero in it. It’s just me and three 12-year-old boys. The film is about all the evils that children face all over the world. Be it child trafficking, child labour or child prostitution. I am playing a girl who is trying to help these children,” she adds.
