Rasika Dugal on missing mainstream offers: Happy to do song-and-dance number
Actor Rasika Dugal said she never received real mainstream Hindi film offers, though she would have gladly done a song-and-dance film. She also expressed that women-led stories can draw audiences and that writing for female characters is improving.
Actor Rasika Dugal, who will next be seen in Kartavya, said she never received “real mainstream offers” in Hindi cinema, even though she would have been happy to do a song-and-dance film. In an exclusive conversation, she spoke about building a career without fitting into the stereotypical Bollywood mould and said she was simply grateful to keep getting work.
The actor also spoke about the way women-led stories are still seen in the industry and said she disagrees with the perception that films centred on women cannot draw audiences. She said female parts are being written better now, though there is still a long way to go.
Rasika on mainstream offers
Asked if she ever felt pressure to fit into the mainstream industry, Rasika said, “No, I mean, I was just happy to have work, to be honest. And when I graduated from the Film Institute, I was like, pata nahi kaam milega, nahi milega (I don't know whether I'll get work or not). And just the fact that I got work, and that the work started getting better, and that I’ve been able to sustain a career - it’s all a bonus, actually.”
She said she came into the industry without fixed expectations, and that helped her find her way. “I didn’t know what to expect from life once I had moved here, and what I would get or would not get. So I didn’t have any preconceived notions of where I wanted to be, and I think that kind of helped,” she shared.
Dugal said that although she has enjoyed commercial Hindi cinema as a viewer, such projects never really came to her. “I didn’t ever get any real mainstream offers, you know. I mean, I would have been very happy to do a nice song-and-dance number and a nice mainstream film because I’ve enjoyed watching many of those films. And that would have been nice. But no, that kind of offer never came,” she said.
When asked why that did not happen, she replied, “I mean, a lot came which was very good, which has enabled me to do different kinds of roles, and that has been great. But yeah, sometimes, I don’t know - you should ask other people. Somebody should give me a nice mainstream film,” she said.
On women-led stories and better writing
The conversation also turned to the challenge female actors still face in being seen as “bankable” stars. She agreed that women often have to work harder for that recognition and said, “Yes, I think so. Because I think the convenient perception is that if you have a story centred around a woman, then it’s not going to get the audience that you want. And I don’t agree with that at all.”
She expressed that filmmakers taking risks on women-led stories have already shown that this belief does not always hold true.
“I think a few people have to take enough risks for that myth to be broken. And when people have, things have proved differently. I remember Cate Blanchett’s speech when she got an Oscar for Blue Jasmine - different industries, of course - but she said, ‘To all those people who foolishly thought that stories with women at the centre would not do well - they do, and in fact, they make money.’ So that’s something. Gangubai (Kathiawadi) was one such example, you know,” she said. Gangubai Kathiwadi, which starred Alia Bhatt, released in theatres in 2022 and was a commercial success.
Dugal also said the way female characters are being written has changed for the better.
“That’s a very positive change. And it’s only getting better. Sometimes, even with the correct intentions, things don’t really turn out to be as they’re intended to be. Sometimes I feel like people, especially for intimate scenes with women, the visualisation of them tends to become sexualised because, I guess, for so long our references have been sexualised that it turns out like that,” she explained.
The actor said the intent is moving in the right direction, even if more work remains. “But the intention is right, and there is an attempt to really write good parts for women. And of course, there’s a long way to go, but I think we’re on the right track,” she concluded.
Her latest project, Kartavya, which also stars Saif Ali Khan, is set to stream on Netflix from May 15.