Rani Mukerji says she joined films as her family needed financial help: ‘I didn’t realise at that time’

The actor is returning with a new film, Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway, this month after two years. In the drama based of real-life events, Rani plays an Indian woman living in Norway, whose young children are taken away from her as she is considered to be an unfit mother. When she was younger, it was her mother who convinced her to become an actor.

Rani later realised that her family financial situation was not great at the time and by working, she would be helping their circumstances get better. The actor recalled in an interview with Pinkvalla, “When I grew up, an offer came my way. My mother very politely put it to me that try it, if it doesn’t work for you, you can go back to studies. Maybe I didn’t realise at that time, the situation in my family was such that there was a need of financial help. But I didn’t think of this much as this. No child thinks their parents aren’t doing well.”

She added, “The kind of lifestyle that my parents tried to give me and my brother, it was quite comfortable. I’m so glad that she did because I’m really in love with my profession today.” When she was growing, she had initially thought to become a lawyer or an interior designer.

Rani’s father Ram Mukherjee directed films before she was born and was one of the founders of Filmalaya Studios. He directed the films Hum Hindustani (1960) and Leader (1964) and also introduced Rani with Biyer Phool along with Prosenjit Chatterjee and Indrani Haldar.

The actor was last seen in the Hindi film Bunty Aur Babli 2 with Saif Ali Khan, Siddhant Chaturvedi and Sharvari Wagh. Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway also features Anirban Bhattacharya, Jim Sarbh and Neena Gupta.