Sonia Balani has played the role of Lakshman's wife, Urmila, in Ramayana.
The actress exclusively revealed whether people like Urmila exist in today's dating world.
Sonia Balani has been known for her work in The Kerala Story.
Actress Sonia Balani's latest offering was in Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana: Part I where she played Urmila, Lakshman's wife. Balani, who is best known for her work in The Kerala Story, reveals whether she compared her screen time in Ramayana to that of her grand role in The Kerala Story.
In an exclusive interview with Outlook India, the actress says, "I want to be honest. Initially, yes, I did compare".
However, the actress believes that in this era of Kalyug, women like Urmila do exist in modern dating times.
Sonia Balani feels proud to have played the role of Urmila
The actress initially was interested in playing Surpanakha, a rakshasi and the younger sister of Ravana. By the time she auditioned for Urmila, Surpanakha was already locked. Having played a negative role in The Kerala Story, Sonia shares, "I really wanted to test for both. I had already played a negative character, so this time I was open to exploring a positive character as well. But at the same time, I did not know much about Urmila apart from the fact that she is Sita's sister and Lakshman's wife. I did not know anything about her. That was one of the reasons why I wanted to test for Surpanakha, as I knew her story well."
On comparing Urmila's sacrifice to today's dating world
When asked whether the sacrifices that Urmila made for Lakshman exist in this dating culture, the actress agrees.
In her words, "To an extent, yes, not fully. No one can sacrifice to that limit. I do see a lot of females whose husbands go out to earn. When I was doing my research, I also thought about the wives of our soldiers. They stay without their husbands because they know they have duties to the nation, and in a way, Lakshman was fulfilling his duty to his brother. To an extent, that sentiment of sacrifice is still there in heart of people."
On negative reviews
The actor feels that art is very subjective, as people create it from personal experiences. Not everyone will share the same experience related to a work of art. To the critics, the actress stated, "I totally understand people who do not like it; they may have some perspective. If they are trolling it for the sake of trolling it, then I also don't think we need to pay heed to such people. The film has been made in such a way that I feel 100 per cent may not like everything. I think it is part and parcel of the industry."
The Tum Bin 2 actress reveals that she was selected in two days when she auditioned for Urmila. This was a personal victory for her as working with filmmaker Nitesh Tiwari was on her bucket list.
"He has been my favourite director in the industry. It was always on the bucket list to do a movie with him," she shares.
Commenting on the character of Urmila, Sonia feels that her story needs to be elaborated.
"I felt Urmila's story needs to be known. It is such a huge sacrifice. She just got married and then got separated from her spouse for 14 years, and she stayed back with her in-laws. Mujhe yeh sari cheezein sad lagi (I felt sad) and I really felt that she should be known to more people."
The actress stated that over the past two years, she put in all the effort to nail her character, Urmila, in Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana. She said her role may have been trimmed due to the movie's length and described an unseen scene that didn't make it into the final cut.
The actress shares candidly, "I was disheartened. I had put in effort for 2 years, and there was one beautiful scene, one of my favourite scenes, where Lakshman is leaving for exile, and an emotional plight is seen in her eyes, like I tried to play Urmila more with my eyes."
Sharing hopes that the film's digital version will retain her part, she says, "Ramayana itself is such a project jaha dialogues kum thei (dialogues were less). I thought I could do a lot through my eyes and show her pain that she has just got married and she is leaving for 14 years, and that was a very, very emotional scene. I tried to portray it through my eyes. Let's see if it makes it through the digital cut."
On working with Ranbir Kapoor and Sai Pallavi
Sonia worked with Sai Pallavi for the first time and calls her a down-to-earth actor. Although she finds it difficult to put Sai Pallavi's beauty into words, she says "She is very simple in a very beautiful way. She is one of the rarest film actors I have seen who doesn't rely on makeup. That is what I really loved about her. She is an amazing actor too."
Sonia also praised Ranbir Kapoor's professionalism and mentioned how he was always punctual on the sets and says, "He used to take instructions very well from Nitesh sir. I have never seen him shy away. Easy actor jiske liye film pehle aati hai. Bahut saare actors hain jo film ke upar khud ko rakhte hain."
