Sonali Bendre on 'The Broken News': "It’s a relevant story and my character has a voice"

Sonali Bendre in 'The Broken News', an adaptation of British show 'Press'.

After a long hiatus from movies and fictional shows, actress Sonali Bendre has made her OTT debut with The Broken News, released June 10, 2022, on Zee5.

The Hindi adaptation of British TV series Press also stars Jaideep Ahlawat and Shriya Pilgaonkar in leading roles along with Bendre, who plays a journalist in the show. Edited excerpts from a conversation with Bendre:

Your last acting stint in a fiction project was the television series 'Ajeeb Daastaan Hai Ye' in 2014, and a year before that, it was a cameo in the movie 'Once Upon a Time in Mumbai Dobaara'. What kept you away?

I had always maintained that once I have my baby, I will not do fiction for the initial 7-8 years as I did not want to travel. I did reality TV because it was the closest to being in office in terms of timing and working around my son’s schedule. Then I did Ajeeb Daastaan… which was a fabulous subject but the story changed. I had a commitment for a certain amount of time and I completed it. After that, I wanted to understand how this process worked. Even the stuff coming to me in films was reminiscent of things I had done. I didn’t want to dwell in the past. I was done with that phase of my life. I was not that age and neither was I that person anymore. By the time I started working out what I wanted, I went through the illness. It wasn’t meant to be such a long break but it became one. I also realized that whatever I put out now for the first time is pretty much going to stamp me with an image. I wanted to play my age. I was getting my chance and I took it.

You got what you wanted with 'The Broken News'?

Yes, it’s a relevant story and my character has a voice.

The show is a Hindi adaptation of the British series 'Press'. Do you think the adaptation has done justice to the story?

I think it’s really well-adapted. Press was about two rival newspapers, and here we have two television channels. It’s a beautiful, human story of what happens in newsrooms and what goes behind getting that one byline. It is an interesting peek into the world of what happens behind the scenes. It helps us understand some things and also makes us question others.

Tell us a bit about your character.

Amina Qureshi is the editor-in-chief of a news channel. One would assume that someone who runs the newsroom is all powerful but that’s not really the case. Everybody is answerable to something or somebody. The beauty of the show is that everybody is grey and so is my character.

Did you struggle a lot with the glamorous image in your earlier years and did you feel that you were not given enough opportunities to showcase your acting talent?

Definitely. Naaraaz was my first film but the song where I am wearing a bodycon dress overshadowed everything. I am not complaining. I was not expecting to be in movies and it worked for me at that point of time, but if I have another opportunity, I would want more layers to be exposed. The journey through which I have gone just shows how fragile looks are.

These days, actors are working in pan-India films but you were working in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada movies even in the 1990s and early 2000s…

The original pan-India star - I think that’s the headline! (laughs) I had a great time working with people there. There was an immense amount of learning and I made great friends. I think, in that sense, I have always been pan-Indian.

Times have changed since you started working, especially with the advent of OTT platforms and the way women’s roles are getting more layered and nuanced even in movies. Are you seeing different opportunities now compared with when you started working?

Absolutely. The exciting part of being in the times we are in is that there are so many platforms where so many voices... not just women, but so many marginalized voices are getting a platform, and I also mean new writers, directors and technicians. The spectrum is so much broader now and I’m really looking forward to working with some young, interesting and unique voices in the coming times.