The 77th Cannes Film Festival has been special for India for many reasons. Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light has made every countryman proud. And there’s also The Shameless, for which Anasuya Sengupta won the Best Actress award in the Un Certain Regard segment at Cannes, a first for any Indian actor. Talented, veteran actress Mita Vashisht, who also features in The Shameless, spoke exclusively with Bollywood Hungama about the Cannes honour and she also opened up on her 35-year-plus journey as an actor.
EXCLUSIVE: Mita Vashisht reveals that a popular South director asked her to live with him for two months: “I told him, ‘Bullshit, keep your role and get lost’! There was not even a second thought”
Mita Vashisht said, “I do miss the early days when I was on a high due to working with celebrated filmmakers. But the interesting thing is that I can fit into any genre. Like, I was a part of a mainstream film like Taal (1999). Its a character that people have still not forgotten. Some actors are not able to fit into every genre. They are comfortable with one genre and you can see their discomfort in another one. I just love being in front of the camera. Genre is secondary.”
She remarked, “Over the years, I have become a bit quiet, knowing that what is meant to be will come your way. It’ll find you. For instance, I didn’t know The Shameless would come my way or that I’d travel to Cannes. You can’t predict these things.”
Risk and Mita Vashisht go hand in hand. In Taal, she played a woman who smoked and lived life on her terms, a rarity in those times, especially for a positive female character. In Oops (2003), she pushed the boundaries. Its director Deepak Tijori spoke highly about it and Mita in a 2022 Bollywood Hungama exclusive interview.
When prodded about this aspect, Mita Vashisht reminded that she has been a risk taker since the very start, “In my first two films, Siddheshwari (1989) and Kasba (1990), I had done full nude scenes. I work with the integrity of the director and that of the film. There are times when I have been offered lead roles and I have declined.”
She narrated a shocking incident, “A director from South met me in Chennai. He offered me a lead role. The actress he had worked with was like the Smita Patil of the South. At that time, she had just won a major award. He offered me the role but the condition was that I should live with him for two months. I told him, ‘Bullshit, keep your role and get lost’! There was not even a second thought.”
She also said, “His English was a little gadbad; at first, I thought he meant that I have to stay in Chennai for two months to learn the language. Then he clarified, ‘No, no, you have to live with me’.”
Mita Vashisht continued, “It was a lead role and yet I walked off as I didn’t like the man. He might be a hot shot in the Telugu industry whose heroines were winning awards but I don’t give a damn. For me, the art of acting is very pristine. And that is wonderful as I have worked with some of the greatest directors, that too on my terms in many ways. There has been a lot of mutual respect.”
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