Actors have more choices now, says Soha Ali Khan
Stars and hectic go hand-in-hand; with early morning flights to catch and shooting schedules that stretch late into the night – it’s all about balancing 24 hours of a day.
Soha Ali Khan, who is an actor, author, royal princess, badminton and yoga enthusiast, will tell you she has become a pro at the act of balancing. The actor made a quick visit to Hyderabad for an event for which she woke up at 4:30 am, figured out her look for the day, which was a pink Khinkhwab Gyasar suit, and then fielded questions from the media.
She then returned to Mumbai the same day in order to be with her daughter Inaaya and husband, actor Kunal Kemmu. “I told my daughter that I’m going out of town for work and she jumped and ran to her father and said, ‘mummy is going out of town, so we can watch TV and eat ice cream’,” laughs Soha. But she is thankful that her four-year-old daughter grasps the demands of her profession and isn’t fussy.
“My job is such that the schedule requires me to be away from my family, my daughter for a month or two. I might be working 12-hour shifts so it’s not like I see her at the end of the day. One has to understand the rigours of the field and train and explain to your child that ‘I may not spend time with you today, but we will do something fun tomorrow’. What’s great about acting is that you get a choice to take time off when you want to; you can prioritise yourself and family,” shares Soha, who took time off after her 2018 release ‘Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster 3’ and then made a comeback with her digital debut in ‘Kaun Banegi Shikarwati’.
“It doesn’t matter where the series or film is being distributed as long as people are watching it. Budgeting your show is fairly easy on such platforms. Cinema is changing now. People want themselves represented on-screen. Writers are writing roles for women in their 40s — a mother, working parent, stresses and joys of that. So, there is Juhi Chawla, Lara Dutta, Raveena, Shefali doing great work. As a woman in her 40s, I am very excited to see what kind of work I can do on OTT. It’s the performance which excites me,” reflects Soha.
She will soon be seen in the web series ‘Hush Hush’ with the ensemble cast of Juhi Chawla, Shahana Goswami, Karishma Tanna and Ayesha Jhulka.
“We have finished dubbing for ‘Hush Hush’ and post-production work is on. It’s a social drama and thriller. I have been part of so many films where my hairstylist and I would be the only women on sets, but what I loved about ‘Hush Hush’ is that it was sometimes tough to find a man on sets. It’s an all women team, the director, sound person, the producers and even the technical team,” adds Soha.
Come September, her second children’s book, co-authored by Kunal Kemmu, comes out. The first book, ‘Inni and Bobo Find Each Other’ was released in April this year. “We are writing a third book right now and the plan is to write hundreds of them,” signs off Soha.
