Actress Ankita Lokhande tells Chahak Mittal that the Indian film industry is increasingly accepting women as real heroes
Her green saree with a yellow border shimmers more than the golden sun. Her bindi adorns her forehead. Her jewellery is minimal yet subtly signifies her womanhood. Her eyes reflect the irrefutable, unstoppable spirit like that of a warrior.
Actress Ankita Lokhande’s first look as the Jhalkari Bai from the film Manikarnika looks believable and much like the unsung hero.
The actress, who has been a part of many TV shows, makes her Bollywood debut with the film. She talks about how she loved the role at the first narration itself. “I felt so good about it. It was something which I really wanted to do when I heard of it. I wanted to tell people that this is also a woman who has made a big contribution to our freedom struggle. I grabbed it and now I am here,” says Ankita.
She tells us that there were a lot of preparations that went into the making of every character in the film, including a rigorous training. “We had a 40-day training with action director Nick Powell from Hollywood. We learnt and practised sword fighting, gun shooting, horse riding, and many other things,” she says adding that no matter how hard and strict, it was the “best part” about being in the film.
She says, “It was very interesting and in your debut, you never plan or think of such things. I thoroughly enjoyed playing Jhalkari. I just agreed to play the role because I also wanted people to know about this unsung warrior. There are so many people who have done great things, but have died unheard and unknown. No names and no marks. The only thought was that if I am getting this opportunity, I should portray her in the best way possible.”
The actress believes that a woman best understands another woman. And after hearing about who and how Jhalkari was, she tried to present the character in her own way. “I understood her as someone about whom people do not know much, so I had to create my own version of her. I played around with the character, developed it in my head first before bringing it to life. I understood her description in some way and about how brave she was. I learnt the role of a fighter and a warrior, I put it in my way and created her. Also I never felt that I was playing someone else while playing Jhalkari, I just felt that it’s me.”
The actress who had lead the TV show, Pavitra Rishta, as Archana, for six years tells us that she likes strong, powerful and women-centric characters. “It’s a way to celebrate womanhood. Even Archana was a very powerful woman and a human being. She was fierce in her life approaches,” she says.
She adds that she can relate herself to Archana as both of them had a similar approach. And today, after playing Jhalkari, she says, “I can relate her and Ankita as well but on very different levels.”
A transition from TV to films is a huge one for an actor. So how has the journey been for Ankita? She says that there hasn’t been a major transition since both the media are different in their own ways. “After working for many years in television, I feel that I had given all of myself to it. But films have always been a dream. Any actor, who wishes to act, always thinks of being a part of a film. And so did I. I would say that I am living my dream right now. I couldn’t have been anything else but this.” Ankita says that she believes in giving the audience a storyline to remember. “For me, a story should be the one that people would recall even when they go back to their homes,” says she.
For her, everything is challenging if it needs hard work. And since she has tried out the two media — TV and films — she feels that both are equally demanding, only the “cameras and their perspectives had changed. In fact, in TV, there is no time. It goes on for days that seem like forever.”
How has she seen a transition in the Indian cinema over time? Ankita looks at it through a feminine approach. She says, “Today there are scripts that showcase women in the most powerful way. They are more women-centric. What is a hero? A hero is not just a man anymore. Today’s films show that women are very much the heroes who don’t need a man to survive or even make a film superhit. A hero is larger than life, someone who is always battling, moving ahead and fighting everything and that definition includes a woman. One can see it in the performances, be it of any actress like Deepika (Padukone) or Kangana (Ranuat). I think I am on the right path today where people don’t want to look at beautiful faces anymore, they want good artists, characters and performance-based films.” She adds that not just in the film industry, but in real life too, women are always the first heroes, and then follow the men. “The biggest examples are our mothers.”
Ankita believes that a film like Manikarnika... is important today because “people are forgetting about India’s history and the country’s freedom struggle.” She says that just like any other common citizen, earlier she had not been overtly patriotic whether it was wars or the soldiers’ struggles. But “after being part of this film, I realised what situations our soldiers’ would put themselves just to protect the nation. I feel that a film like this will make people realise what freedom means and what it symbolised for the people who lived during the colonial era.”
She adds, “It’s the most important for kids and the youth as they are the future and they need to develop this fighter spirit in them.”
(The film releases on January 25.)
