Former video jockey and TV presenter Mini Mathur, who marked her acting debut with the sitcom series Mind The Malhotras, is gearing up for the release of its second season. It will see her reprising the role of Shefali Malhotra, mother to three, who runs the race for followers as an online chef.
In an exclusive interaction with News18, she reveals that though she had no qualms about playing the character, many raised their eyebrows over her decision for kick-starting her acting career by essaying the role of a mother. “I don’t know why there’s a strange backfooted attitude about it. I’ve had so many people asking me if I’m okay with playing a mother. I’m a mom in real life too! Even if I wasn’t one, it’s my job to play different characters. It won’t take away my mojo,” she shares.
However, the one thing that disappoints Mathur are age inappropriate roles. She elaborates, “I don’t want to play a mom to a 40-year-old man because I wouldn’t have the life experience to play her. And by the way, I get a lot of offers to play such parts too. I need to have an identity. Being ‘someone’s mother’ isn’t enough. I need to know what she’s doing in the narrative.”
Though she would be open to playing an older woman if the character has a proper arc and graph, she urges creators and filmmakers to acknowledge an actor’s age before casting them. “If a character is 80 years old, they should cast someone of the same age. I would ask them to cast me for the age that I am. But if they make me wear a grey strand of hair, it will bother me,” Mathur avers.
Her close friend, Maria Goretti, recently appeared in the second season of the web series Masaba Masaba, and the duo often exchange views on the dearth of age-appropriate parts for women. “Both Maria and I have the same issues. We often tell each other, ‘To play this or not to play this is the question’. But Masaba Masaba was a good set-up and she was offered a crazy role which wasn’t putting her in a box. I’m so glad that she has been able to find her feet. She’s a very talented girl,” Mathur ends.
Mind The Malhotras season two is all set to premiere on Amazon Prime Video on August 12.
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