Sonali Bendre: Bollywood has always seen me more as the glamorous person

Actor Sonali Bendre is tired of being seen as a “glamorous” person through the Bollywood lens, instead of a serious actor. And she is working really hard to turn it around.

“Bollywood has always seen me more as the glamorous person, then, as a serious actor. I want that to change. I have nothing against glamour, I love being glamorous. But there is more to me,” Bendre tells us.

She continues, “And I would like those layers to be explored”. In fact, it has turned out to be the driving force to decide her upcoming projects, be it non-fiction television or her return to mainstream acting with her OTT debut project.

The change will happen soon, promises the 47-year-old actor, adding, “The industry will see me as I want to be seen”. Here, she asserts that she is not willing to put the blame on the industry for not taking her seriously.

“But for that to happen, I needed to be clear about how it is that I want to be seen. I don’t think I had taken myself as seriously… Where I gave thought to my image, or what am I seen as,” says Bendre.

She explains, “I was doing what came my way. I needed to make the money, that was the priority. I just went on with my life like that. Now, for the first time, I’m being mindful about things and I’m actually thinking, ‘how would I like to be portrayed? How would I like to be seen?’ These are the questions I’m asking myself for the first time in life. So, I can’t blame the industry. I think I had to be clear about it (first)”.

When it comes to fiction, she was last seen in the TV show, Ajeeb Daastaan Hai Ye, following which she took a break from the acting world and underwent treatment for cancer. Lately, she has featured in reality TV shows as a judge, and her web project, The Broken News, marks her first full-time acting job since then.

“I was just at the space in life where I wanted to get back to work. I’ve been doing reality TV, but it revolved around my son’s time and home time. I have really not done fiction for a while and I was really ready for it now. My son has grown up and the project which I picked up was so exciting. The kind of content that’s happening is also so exciting. Now that I have the time on my hands, I really want to get back to it,” she says, sharing, “I have had time to introspect in these four years, and have now understood that I love doing what I do”.