'I Didn't Work Because Of Lack of Good Offers'

'It's important to keep doing your work. Do what you understand and don't expect much.'

We first met Patralekhaa in CityLights, where she played wife to Rajkummar Rao.

Today, they make up one of the talented couples working in Bollywood.

Comparisons may be inevitable but Patralekhaa insists her journey is different from her husband's.

After a series of underwhelming projects since her 2014 debut, the actor seem to be re-shaping her career as seen from last year's terrific show IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack.

The next is Ananth Mahadevan's period drama Phule in which she plays the historical figure Savitribai Phule.

"When you are playing like such powerful characters and you're doing this day in and day out, you derive a lot of strength from them," Patralekhaa tells Mayur Sanap/Rediff.

What are your favourite movies with strong female characters, not necessarily historical or biopics?

I like Sadma a lot.

There are many movies but Sadma is one of the movies I can recall well.

How much did you know about Savitribai Phule before this project came to you?

She and Jyotiba Phule really worked for the well being of society.

There's so written material available on the internet, so many books written by them, about them.

They were such a prominent figure.

We haven't discovered anything new as such.

When you play such powerful characters, do their character traits rub off on you?

I am not sure about that. But does it empower me as a human being? Of course, it does.

When you're playing like such powerful characters and you're doing this day in and day out, you derive a lot of strength from them.

This film has a period setting but we live in modern times, constantly surrounded by mobile phones and gadgets. What shift happens when you go on sets?

It is important to keep your phone away.

It's a very organic way actually because you are trying to live a life and play a character that isn't today's and a phone just breaks that wall.

Having said that, it's not like I didn't use my phone. My phone was with me but I used it much lesser.

I think everybody on the set used it much lesser.

Is there any ritual that you followed to play this character? Like, some actors listen to particular songs to get into that zone.

What really helped me about this character was that we were cut off from everything.

We were shooting in Bhor, in the interiors of Maharashtra.

The internet was very slow, we couldn't get network on phones.

That place really helped me to be secluded in my mind.

What is one character trait of Savitribai that you have as well?

She never gives up. I never give up.

They were fearless people in the way they lived their life.

What is one moment from Phule that will always stay with you?

There's so many moments because they lived such a humongous, giant of a life.

They were always doing something or the other.

In one instance, cow dung gets thrown at Savitri and she comes home and tells Jyotiba about it. That was a very powerful moment for me.

There's another moment where Jyotibha is telling people from the Satyashodak Samaj that this is the end of his life and Savitri will take over the reins.

I didn't have anything to say but just listening to Pratik kind of shifted something.

That was a very powerful moment.

Despite their equal contribution to society, the world bestowed the title of Mahatma only on Jyotiba. Do you think Savitribai deserved the title too?

For sure. When I was reading the scene, I was like, but she was an equal partner with him, how come it wasn't given to her?

Even Jyotiba felt a certain way about her not getting the title of Mahatma.

But it was just so nice that Savitri kind of maneuvers him out of it. But yes, I feel she deserved the title.

Having seen these characters up close and having studied them, what is the one thing about Savitribai and Jyotiba's partnership that you would like to imbibe in your own marriage?

There are so many things.

They thought they were equal.

They were together in achieving and uplifting society, reforming society, and nobody tried taking away the credit.

Like you mentioned, she was not given the title of Mahatma and Jyotiba did feel bad about it.

He did try to make her understand that that wasn't right because she did the work equally. But their partnership was so strong. They had one vision for society and worked towards it.

You made your debut in 2014 with CityLights. You haven't done too many films in all these years. Was it because of lack of good offers?

It was obviously because of lack of good offers.

It's important to keep doing your work. Do what you understand and don't expect much.

The last couple of years have been good for you with IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack and now Phule. Gulkanda Tales with Raj & DK is coming up next. Do you feel you are in the best phase of your career?

No, it's going to be better.

I want to be a part of really interesting scripts and good directors and producers.

Does it irritate you when people compare your journey with your Rajkummar's?

Not really. I mean, it's their look out.

You can't compare apples and oranges, both are so different.

In one of your interviews, you mentioned how you wanted to run away from Mumbai because you didn't feel like belonging here. How has your equation evolved with the city?

I love the city. I don't think I can live anywhere else.

Given a choice between Shillong, your birth place, and Mumbai, what would you prefer?

Mumbai, any day.

WATCH The Full Patralekhaa Interview Here: