Six years after Padmaavat, Aditi Rao Hydari returned as Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s heroine with Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazar. The Netflix original show sees her playing Bibbojaan, a courtesan who’s also a passive revolutionary. While both she and the character she’s essaying in the historical drama are characterised with ‘a fire in the belly’, Aditi in an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha shares that their way of seeking love is starkly different.
Spilling the beans on Bibbojaan, she tells us, “Bibbojaan is soft-hearted. Where she’s born and who she possibly wants to be are at conflict. There’s a lot of love and steadiness in her and she uses them to serve a larger purpose. At a personal level, she’s unable to channel that because of the responsibility she feels towards her mother. It’s interesting and complicated with her. It’s a conflict between what her heart wants to do and what’s expected of her.”
However, Aditi believes that she is a more idealistic lover. “I’m not so complicated. I believe in love. I’m all about unicorns and rainbows,” blushes the actor, who got engaged to her Maha Samudram co-star Siddharth in March this year.
Unlike Bibbojaan, Aditi reveals that in real life, she never had to be a rebel and she attributes the same to her upbringing. “To be honest, I was always given a lot of freedom. So, I never felt like I need to fight for it. The school I went to was based on Krishnamurthy’s philosophy. My family also read a lot about him, which meant that children were given a lot of freedom,” she states.
Further elaborating on the same, the Kaatru Veliyidai actor tells us, “You could ask what you wanted and do whatever you wanted to. But I believe in conviction more than rebellion and to stick to conviction, you need to be firm in your belief. The flip side of it could be stubbornness but I call myself a person with a lot of conviction.”
However, she’s quick to add that she has never shied away from asking what she deserves, be it at home or the workplace. “Quite often, as women, we’re constantly made to feel guilty. Most of us grow up on a diet of guilt. And sometimes, the choices that we make silently could be a sign of rebellion. Personally, I stand up for myself every day – at home, on a set, or in front of my staff,” she remarks.
And that’s why Aditi also admires the ‘unapologetic’ women Bhansali is known to portray in his films. “It’s so empowering. In Heeramandi, for instance, they’re all so unique. The way they love is so unique and the way they do badmaashi is unique. A lot of it also comes from how Sanjay sir looks at women. His women aren’t one-tone. If they’re grey, there’s a context to why feel the way they do or why they’re seeking revenge. He looks at these female characters through a 360 degree lens,” she opines.
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