Actress Charu Shankar: Gone are the days when the ‘mother character is a stock role

Mumbai, Sep 2 (IANS) After playing a mother to actor Ranbir Kapoor in “Animal,” Charu Shankar is all set to essay the role in the upcoming film “Binny and Family” and said that she does not fear being typecast. 

“Gone are the days when the “Mother” character is a stock character- thank god! Sure, the industry is very happy to place actors in narrow boxes, and we do get cast again and again in the same or similar roles,” Charu told IANS.

The actress said that the onus of doing something different is entirely on her, as the actor.

“In every role, I have given my character a motivation, a want, a drive, a fear, a secret. Each character for me has been unique, and different from the other.”

She added: “In ‘Binny and Family’, I gave my character Radhika, a completely different arc as Binny’s mother. Radhika is no nonsense, sassy, independent and has enough confidence in her own parenting to let Binny do her own thing. As Binny learns and grows, so does she.”

The actress spoke about working with Ranbir and Anil Kapoor in “Animal” and said that she often found herself “star struck”.

“Ranbir Kapoor, Anil Kapoor and Pankaj Kapoor are all huge stars, they are all larger than life, and extremely charming to boot! While working with them, I often found myself totally star struck!”

“Thankfully they are also very nice people, who did everything to put me at ease, and I’m very grateful that my work with them in films is receiving love and appreciation from the industry, press, critics alike,” she added.

Talking about her character in “Binny and Family”, Charu said: “In ‘Binny and Family’, my character Radhika is a mother so confident in her own parenting, that she is secure enough to allow her daughter the freedom to blaze her own path, make her own decisions and even make her own mistakes!”

“As Binny stumbles, learns and grows, so does her mother Radhika. The film starts with 3 generations of the same family not being able to understand each other, and somewhere down the line, they all learn to speak the same language. It’s a character who goes on a journey of growth with grace through the film.”

In the film, Charu will be seen working with veteran star Pankaj Kapur, whom the actress described as a legend.

“Pankaj Kapoor is a legend and in ‘Binny and Family’, I witnessed genius at work. My absolutely favourite moment was when he looks at the poster of Dr Dre and asks “ye doctor hai?!” Pankaj saab played that moment with such innocent surprise, that all of us were in splits for hours!”

–IANS

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