Smita Tambe, who is a known name in Marathi cinema for her roles in Jogwa, Ajji, Ganvesh, Umrika, has now geared up for the release of her Hindi film Rukh. Directed by Atanu Roy, Rukh, which also stars Manoj Bajpayee and Adarsh Gourav, is releasing today.
“Manoj and I play parents to a young boy in the film. Nandini (the mother) is a very closed-up person, who doesn’t give the kind of reaction the child expects,” she says, adding, “She is complex.”
Smita says that her onscreen character is different from her real personality. “I cannot suppress things within me like Nandini. She wants to live her life in a certain manner but unable do so. If I had to live my life the way she does in the film, I wouldn’t survive,” she adds.
Rukh is about a 18-year-old boy Dhruv, who is ignorant about the ongoing crisis in his family. His life takes an unexpected turn when he gets the news of his father’s death in a car accident. As he copes with the tragedy, hidden truths begin to unravel.
Smita, who has worked extensively in the Marathi film industry, says working on Rukh, took a toll on her mentally. “I stay in Madh Island and I use to travel from there to Bandra everyday. In one of the scenes, I had to completely break down. While commuting, I was trying to reconnect with the scene; I simply couldn’t stop crying. I cried for two days because I had not experienced anything like this before. I got a headache because of that. I could only hear my director’s voice,” she says.
As far as sharing the screen with Manoj is concerned, Smita says, “He is a fantastic co-star and has an amazing voice. We did our workshops and rehearsals together before the shoot so there was lot of clarity. That helped us become comfortable around each other. We enjoyed working together.”
Sadly, films like Rukh do not get enough screens at the theatres. However, Smita says that it’s a kind of film which would stay with the viewer for a longer time. “ There’s no denying that people love value for money kind of cinema. But films are also doing well because of word of mouth publicity. I am confident that the audience will like Rukh. With people like Manish Mundra supporting it, a different kind of audience is going to watch it,” she says.
Ask her if she is conscious while choosing her Bollywood project and she replies, “I am getting good offers but I want do different kind of roles so I am consciously making decision. I have got two-three major films; I will be making the announcement soon.”
