Raashii Khanna and Tamannaah Bhatia will co-star in Aranmanai 4.
Raashii Khanna lauds Alia Bhatt, Kangana Ranaut and Sai Pallavi for paving the way for women in cinema. She says their rise to stardom is every woman’s win.
In Raashii Khanna’s words, she has always been a ‘secure’ actor. And that’s perhaps why she has never had any qualms about starring in films as a parallel lead alongside other female stars. World Famous Lover with Aishwarya Rajesh, Aranmanai 3 with Andrea Jeremiah, Thiruchitrambalam with Nithya Menen and Yodha with Disha Patani are a few examples. In Aranmanai 4, she’ll be sharing screen space with Tamannaah Bhatia. A dance number titled Achacho from the horror-comedy featuring the ladies was recently unveiled and it has grabbed the attention of many.
In an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha, Raashii opines that the thought that women are each other’s competition is a ‘construct’. “I don’t know how real it is. I would love to support another female who’s doing really well. I don’t expect anything from anybody but I personally would clap for them because they’re paving the way for us. If one woman wins, it’s all of us winning together,” she states.
Lauding her peers who have changed the game for women in mainstream cinema, she says, “It’s never about one woman being above the other. We all have to move ahead together. Alia (Bhatt) and Kangana (Ranaut) doing female-led films will help us get those roles in the future. I also admire Sai Pallavi’s body of work a lot. I think we should always clap for each other even though there will be women who don’t think this way.”
The Farzi actor reveals that she has often been told about how sharing screen with her peers isn’t the right way to go but she has always chosen to turn a deaf ear to them. “There will be people telling you what to do but you need to differentiate between those giving you constructive criticism and wanting good for you from noise. There will be external forces telling you a lot of things but you only have to listen to what you think will be good for you. If you’re really secure as an actor, you wouldn’t need other’s opinion to guide you in your profession. And I’m a secure actor,” she remarks.
A champion of sisterhood, Raashii believes she isn’t running a race with her contemporaries, especially women. “In my mind, it’s a collaboration and never a competition. We collaborate for art. We don’t compete for attention. If a film has more actors than me, I want them to shine as much as I want to shine. Even if a film doesn’t shine, I want us all to have great parts since we’re in it together,” she tells us.
The actor, who will next be seen in The Sabarmati Report, adds, “Even if you put three other actors in the same frame as me, I’ll be secure enough because I know what I’m doing. The only thing is that they should do justice to my character. I know my capacity in terms of how much I can push myself. I may have a ten or fifteen minute role but it has to be impactful otherwise I won’t really do it.”
