Passion for acting is fading in the race for fame: Bhagyashree

Actress Bhagyashree, who has been to Varanasi several times, says she is more at peace every time she visits the place. While talking to us in the midst of the river Ganga with the ghat buzzing with activity, the actress says, “Despite so many people around, the mind here is less chaotic. I feel more connected with myself here than anywhere else; that is the magic of Varanasi.”With certain professional commitments to fulfill the actress made sure to do the touristy things as well. Apart from darshan at Kashi Vishwanath Temple and attending the Ganga arti at Dashshwamedh Ghat she also tried the local Banarasi cuisine. BANARAS KA KHANA IS ALWAYS ON MY BUCKET LISTBhagyashree, who runs a food channel online and shares her recipes on her other social media accounts, loves Banarasi street food. “I am a great foodie, and Banaras ka khana is something always at the top of my bucket list. While coming to the ghat, I saw a lot of shops full of maliayo, a winter delicacy made of milk. I not only want to taste it but also see how it is made. I have heard it takes a lot of effort. Another dish which I want to try at home is the Banarasi chana ghugari, as it tastes so yum.” VERY FEW ACTORS TODAY ARE INVOVED IN THEIR CRAFTThe actress who had an iconic foray in films with Maine Pyar Kiya now has her children, Abhimanyu and Avantika Dassani, venturing into the domain of acting. “Cinema has changed drastically over the years, so I am not in a position to advise my children; instead, I ask for it. The way you enact things now is very different from the times when I started off. Now acting is more normal and casual, while earlier it was more heightened. The emotion was louder then. One thing that was not there before is the kind of competition, which is humongous now. At the same time, there are varied platforms and different forms of art now, like films, OTT, television, stage, and there is so much diversification in every platform. However, between that time and now, the passion of acting has diminished. Very few actors today, who you can actually make out, are so involved in their craft; the rest of them are looking towards fame and money. So I tell my children that you have to demarcate in your head what you really want because if you are here for fame and money, it would be very difficult to last out, somewhere the competition will get to you. But if you are here for the passion and love of the craft then only you will be able to last out.” THE CHARACTER I PLAY SHOULD RESONATE WITH MY AUDIENCEBhagyashree, who will be seen in a mega project, Raja Shivaji, with Riteish Deshmukh, Genelia Deshmukh, Abhishek Bachchan, Vidya Balan, and Sanjay Dutt, says that now that her children have grown up and she has time to move back to her craft. “I am a bit picky with the roles coming my way, as the audience has given me so much love for the last forty years, so I don’t want to let them down. I don’t want the audience to say she did this to get back or only for money. The character I play should resonate with my audience, and they should feel that no one could have done the role better than her. The character has to have an arc in the whole film, my character does not need to have a lot of cinema time, but it should leave an impact.” SOME MAKERS ON OTT HAVE STARTED BECOMING VERY SEXUALLY EXPLICIT EVEN WHEN NOT NEEDEDThe actress, who is yet to be seen in any of the web series on the OTT platform, says, “ I really want to be part of such projects, but then the role should be such that my audience expects me to do. The problem with OTT is that some of the makers have started becoming very sexually explicit even when not needed, so that becomes a problem. That is not a kind of thing one wants to be associated with. At the same time, some of the stuff coming on OTT is unbelievable, with some great storytelling and strong scripts, which were lacking in Hindi cinema.”AI SHOULD NOT BE USED IN FILMS WITH MORE SOULSpeaking about the use of Artificial Intelligence in filmmaking, Bhagyashree says, “AI is welcome where any kind of digital enhancement is required, for instance, in a war film. Where atrocities of war are to be depicted on a humongous scale, it won’t be possible for so many actors to play out a war scene. So, digital enhancement or AI is used for something like that, then it makes sense, or perhaps in a Sci-fi film, but in films with more soul, I don’t think AI should be used. Chand par daag hota hai toh woh uski khubsoorati hoti hai. I don’t think you should strive for perfection with AI in such films. It is the rawness of us humans when we perform that makes it beautiful.”