In a recent interview, Sonali Bendre recalled her experience playing one of the female leads in Mahesh Bhatt's 'Duplicate', one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films in 1998.
Sonali Bendre is a graceful actress who ruled Bollywood and Telugu films during the 1990s. In her decades-long career, she has essayed versatile roles, starring alongside Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, and more. One of her standout films with SRK was Duplicate, where Shah Rukh played dual roles, one good and one evil, and Sonali played the girlfriend of the evil ‘Manu’, and was a female lead alongside Juhi Chawla. However, despite the film's success, Sonali wasn't satisfied with her role in it.
In a recent chat with Bollywood Bubble, Sonali Bendre opened up on her experience working in the 1998 blockbuster, Duplicate, co-starring Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla. Sonali, who plays ‘Lily’, the love interest of SRK’s evil character, ‘Manu’, in the film, recalls how her character became one-dimensional as the story progressed. The actress shared:
“It was a film that a lot of people talk about. But this is one of those films that really helped shape the way I wanted my character to be. The idea was to have beautiful grey shades in this character, but it kind of started becoming very one-dimensional. I think it became more of a secondary character when I got onto it.”
Sonali recalled her two contrasting experiences working with Mahesh Bhatt. In the same year as Duplicate, Sonali worked with the filmmaker in Zakhm, co-starring Ajay Devgn, Nagarjuna, and Pooja Bhatt. Knowing she was not in the lead role, Sonali was excited to be a part of the film, but in Duplicate, she had a different experience as she didn't feel seen despite being one of the female leads. In her words:
“When I did Zakhm, I knew it wasn’t the main character. I knew Pooja (Bhatt) had that role. But it was a beautiful story with Bhatt Sahab, and I just wanted to be a part of it, so I did it. But when Duplicate was concerned, I was supposed to have had an equal amount. And at that point, it started to feel like it wasn’t the same kind of role anymore. So at that time, I did start to feel like I wasn’t getting my due. But I think eventually, it all evened out, and I did get my due.”
Earlier, during a conversation with India Today, Sonali expressed her disappointment with working in Duplicate, despite the film's immense success, due to the unexpected shift in her character as the story progressed. The actress recalled that the storyline of Duplicate got derailed, and eventually she felt like being only a caricature rather than playing a grey character. In her words:
“It was very exciting and challenging for me to portray that character. We started preparing for the role in that way and also started shooting it accordingly, but slowly, as things moved, I felt I became a caricature and not really the grey character I was supposed to play… the thing that I remember the most is… how much a story can get de-railed and how much you can start with something and where it goes. And, for me, that was a huge lesson… But then, as you go forward, sometimes you do things for that paycheck… I don’t want to be slotted and boxed, and I want to do characters that break this stereotype.”
What are your thoughts on Sonali Bendre’s character being two-dimensional in Duplicate?
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