Actress Rakhi Sawant, who will next be seen in a web series Tawaif, says the upcoming project will highlight the plight of sex workers in the country.
“When people hear the word ‘tawaif’ (courtesan), I don’t know why they raise their eyebrows and start making faces. I will say that because of them daughters and women are safe in the house. When you take tax from them then why don’t you make stronger laws for them? Why don’t their children get admission in schools?” Rakhi pointed out, while speaking to IANS.
She added: “People think that tawaifs are housebreakers. On the other hand, they reconcile families. Our web series will show that no one is born a tawaif.”
Many Bollywood actresses has played the courtesan in the past, including Madhuri Dixit Nene in “Devdas”, Rati Agnihotri in “Tawaif”, Rekha in “Umrao Jaan” and “Muqaddar Ka Sikandar”, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in “Umrao Jaan” and Meena Kumari in “Pakeezah”.
Did Rakhi draw reference from these films? “I am not playing the role of a tawaif of the old generation. She is of the 21st century, so I didn’t take references from films of the past.”
“Tawaif” is an eight-episode series that will be shot in and around Lucknow and produced by Rizawan Khan. A lot of actors from Lucknow are featured in the series including Rakhi Jaiswal, Devendra Modi, Meraj Alam and Vandana Singh. The show is directed by Mahrukh Mirza.
Swastika Mukherjee on her bond with co-actors
Bengali actress Swastika Mukherjee has opened up about her bond with co-actors Shamita Shetty and Mona Singh. She says she has made great friends on the sets of her new show, Black Widows.
“It was wonderful. We took a day to break the ice, but eventually we all looked forward to seeing each other. We chatted a lot on the set between takes. We met after work almost every day. The bonding that you see on screen turned into a larger bonding off-screen. I have made great friends, (and it is) not something that happens at this age,” Swastika said.
Swastika says Shamita and Mona are special and that she is very proud of them.
“They are special and I am very proud of them. When we work with a stellar cast, zeal builds up automatically and that’s exactly what happened while shooting Black Widows. Each and every person working in the sets was brimming with enthusiasm and energy. Post shoot we used to hang together, sing, dance, play games. We worked hard and we partied harder,” she said.
The show is a remake of a Nordic series of the same name. The story follows three best friends who are in abusive marriages, and whose lives are in for a twist when their husbands die suddenly.
The Hindi show is the eighth international remake following adaptations in Ukraine, Estonia, Lithuania, the Middle East, Mexico, Scandinavia and the Czech Republic.
Directed by Birsa Dasgupta, Black Widows also features Mona Singh, Shamita Shetty, Sharad Kelkar, Raima Sen, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Aamir Ali, and Sabyasachi Chakraborty among others. The show releases on the OTT platform Zee5.
