Geeta Agrawal Sharma On Being Cast In 12th Fail, Laapataa Ladies: “Got To Live Different Lives On Screen”

Actress Geeta Agrawal Sharma, who was recently seen in superhit movies like ’12th Fail’ and ‘Laapataa Ladies’, says though her screen time was limited to supporting roles, it never went unnoticed.

From playing the role of Madam Aulakh, who was a politician running a cocaine racket in the state of Punjab in crime thriller web series “CAT”, to Pushpa, a resilient mother in the motivational film “12th Fail” who eventually takes the charge of the house and farm, Geeta is gradually becoming constant in projects across genres and formats.

The actress began her career in bollywood with the TV shows like “Kaisa Yeh Ishq Hai” and made her film debut with her first movie in the year 2007 “Foto”. A decade later, she was seen in the comedy movie “Mubarakan”, which gave her a role in “OMG 2”.

“I had done ‘Mubarakan’ in which I had worked alongside Pavan Malhotra, and he suggested my name to the director of ‘OMG 2’ (Amit Rai), as he had seen my work earlier.

“So, one role led to another. I had worked with Balwinder Singh Janjua, who was the writer of ‘Mubarakan’. He cast me in his directorial debut OTT series ‘CAT’ and later in his film, ‘Tera Kya Hoga Lovely’,” the 50-year-old actor told PTI in an interview.

“I had done a web series with director Siddharth Anand titled ‘Flesh’. He later offered me ‘Fighter’. It was a small yet beautiful role. It happens rarely that when you act alongside a superstar you are visible in the same frame. It was kind enough on the part of the director and editor to give me that presence,” she added.

There have been times people have approached her for a film, saying “You are playing the role of a mother to ‘x’ actor”, a character brief that puzzles the actor, who comes from theatre.

“I’m like, ‘What kind of offer is this?’ There has to be something substantial,” she added.

What has changed for the better is that her characters are no longer nameless.

“When I was doing ‘Chhapaak’, my character had no name but in the script her name was Rama, this is what a woman director (Meghna Gulzar) does. In ‘A Suitable Boy’ (by Mira Nair), my character’s name was not there deliberately, she was addressed as Mrs Mahesh.

“In ‘12th Fail’, I remember my character’s name Pushpa was written on my hand. When you have a name for your character, you get that confidence. In ‘All India Rank’, my character’s name is Manju. Now, my characters have started having names. This is a big change that has happened,” Geeta said.

“I’ve played the role of a sports coach, a wife of a politician, a poor woman, among many others. Through these characters, I got to live different lives on screen. There are thousands of such characters that should be represented. I hope directors offer me those roles and think that I can play those parts well,” she said.