Patralekhaa on challenges while portraying Savitribai Phule: There’s no footage of her to understand her demeanour

Actor Patralekhaa is soon has already begun filing for her next, where she portrays the role of legendary Savitribai Phule. Though Savitribai has been a very influential figure — an educationalist and a poet – from the Indian history, the actor tells us that there was no reference point to understand her character, hence making the preparation process challenging.

“There was no footage of her for us to consider. We did not know what her demeanour was like,” says Patralekhaa adding, “It’s just her poetry and what she has left behind that we had for understanding. But with Savitribai’s writing, you get a window to her mind and her mental state. And I believe that’s better than any material.”

The Ananth Narayan Mahadevan’s directorial based on the iconic couple Jyotiba Phule and his wife Savitribai Phule, also stars actor Pratik Gandhi in the lead role. While in the absence of any visual material to refer to, it’s indeed difficult to bring Savitribai’s character live on screen, Patralekhaa asserts she is going to play her “like I think she would have been, like I would perceive her”.

That being said, there are chances that the team’s interpretation of a legendary character may backfire or what if audience may not agree with the depiction? Does that thought scare her? Patralekhaa explains, “I am sure the writer and director have spelled out the scenes without hurting anyone’s sentiments. So, I doubt there is any room to offend people. As for me, I don’t want to hurt anyone’s sentiments with the way I interpret anything. It would never be intentional. Rest I leave up to God.”

One thing the CityLights (2014) actor is worried about, however, is if she will be able to play the character well enough and convincingly.

“She is such an inspirational character that I don’t know whatever I will do will ever be able to do justice to her. I am super nervous, but the clarity my director has and the talent that Pratik possess, pacifies me a little. It feels like I am in a good hands,” she says.

Being a social activist, Savitribai was a fighter who stood up for equality, women rights and women education. Patralekhaa says, today if she’s able to work with a free will, it’s because someone as brave as Savitribai fought for the rights of women. “Some 150 years ago, it took a lot of courage to speaks against laws, against the Britishers and the society and she was that brave,” notes the actor, who has mostly portrayed brave characters onscreen in shows such as Bose: Dead or Alive (2017), Badnaam Gali (2019) and Forbidden Love (2020).

On being asked if that’s a conscious choice to play strong characters, the actor that’s not really the case. She elucidates, “The characters I’ve played in my career so far have always been strong, even in their weakest moments, but I don’t see a characters like, ‘Oh, this is a strong one, let me play that’. For me, what matters is what my character is bringing to the script. In my first film (CityLights), the character was pretty vulnerable. But again, the spectrum was pretty wide. What may be strong or vulnerable for me, may or may not be strong or vulnerable for others,” she ends.