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Pooja Bhatt returns to acting to break taboo surrounding women's alcoholism

Pooja Bhatt returns to acting to break taboo surrounding women's alcoholism

She says her character will be different from today's female characters that are "asexual, dead, with no charm"
22 Jan, 2016

After an absence of 15 years from the big screen, Pooja Bhatt is set to turn actor once again for a script her father Mahesh Bhatt has 'gifted' her, reports Times of India.

The 43-year-old actress, who was last seen in Rahul Bose's Everybody Says I'm Fine, is ending her hiatus with a role of an alcoholic actress in her forties, who feels remorse for abandoning her child to make it big in showbiz.

Bhatt says that she was drawn to the character because it is different from today's female characters that are "asexual, dead, with no charm".

"I'm wildly excited because there's not enough representation of women of a certain age in our cinema today. Roles were more powerful 20-30 years ago," she said.

"In most societies, and particularly ours, a man who has abandoned his child is given a second chance. But if it's the mother who has disowned the baby, she is seen as aberration, a bi*** and evil. We want to change that script," she added.

She went on to point on that "alcohol is another vice an Indian woman can't own up to. We are going to break that taboo too in our film. It's a heartbreaking human story that gave me gooseflesh I had not felt in many years."

The shoot of the untitled film will begin this year, and Pooja will divide her time between acting and directing her upcoming films, Cabaret and Jism 3.

Comments

sudhir Jan 22, 2016 04:20pm
What's she saying? Women drinking alcohol is no taboo in the Indian society anymore. Women in my generation drink and the new generations are even more liberal. Even in Hindi movies there have been women who drink. In fact Dimple Kapadia played a middle aged alcoholic in Dil Chahta Hai 15 years ago.
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Bupi Jan 22, 2016 11:04pm
It's reflection of society. When men can enjoy Alcohol Why not their second half enjoy the same. If Alcohol is bad for Women then it's bad for Men also.
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M Jan 24, 2016 04:01am
@sudhir As an urban Indian woman, I agree. I am from a relatively smaller city but I social drinking is very commonplace. I don't know any friends who do not drink or object to women drinking
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