Audience Relate to Reality and Relatability in Cinema: Pratibha Ranta

I think it was the relatability and reality of small-town life—the survival and fight for your dreams and aspirations. Women are often constricted in household spaces, and now it’s easy to attach them to that space. ‘Laapataa Ladies’ is a film that broke that mould. It showed reality, and that's exactly what clicked with the audience.

I believe that every project has a certain story to tell. Before I say ‘yes’ to any film or a web show, I ask myself whether it carries the capacity to bring out my potential, or whether it pushes me to challenge my acting capabilities or any of my previous work. If the answers to these questions work in my favour, and helps me improve, I give it a nod, and let the project have its momentum from thereon.

I am looking to improve overall, finding projects that bring the best out of me and push me to go beyond my comfort zone. There are no specific skills or areas to improve, but overall. I wish to work across genres and not confine myself to predictability. When I do that, that's when I will know that I am giving my best and am justifying the ‘actor’ in me.

Cinema is a space to play and evolve, so filmmakers and actors have the liberty to explore. But in today’s time, I believe that the audiences are very well aware of what they are consuming. They don't want to watch anything and everything that’s put up on the screens. So I feel that it’s the reality and relatability that should be brought up on the screens. You never know what kind of content gets accepted or rejected. People are really betting on unfamiliarity and honesty.

Currently there is a project in the pipeline that I am working on. It’s directed by Anubhuti Kashyap and it stars me alongside Konkona Sen Sharma. I am quite excited about it.