Oye Oye star Sonam Rai: If actors from my era are playing leading roles, it’s good for them

Actor Sonam, who shot to fame with the 1989 film Tridev, is busy paving her way to be back in the acting world. She admits that she is not delusional to chase just the leading roles, but doesn’t hold a grudge against the male actors from her era going only for the main parts.

Sonam was introduced to Bollywood by Yash Chopra with multi-starrer action film Vijay in 1988. She rose to fame with Tridev, majorly because of the song, Oye Oye, following which she did projects such as Aakhri Adalat, Ajooba and Police Wala and she was last seen in Insaniyat in 1994.

Talking of her comeback, the actor gushes, “I am very optimistic about entering the scene again. I am a little scared too, which is pretty normal. Because times have changed and things have changed and I’ve been away for quite a while.”

At the moment, Sonam is going through projects for the OTT space, as she mentions, “OTT is the reason I thought I should make a comeback. It is a totally different scene. Age and gender doesn’t matter.”

Looking back at the time when she started her acting journey, she recounts, “There were a lot of stereotypes at that time. Like, I wore a bikini for one of my movies, then everybody wanted me to wear a bikini. Once you got a tag, you were stuck to it. Today, in the OTT world, you can rule the roost even if you play somebody’s sister.”

The 50-year-old, who stayed in the UK, US and Pondicherry during her time away, goes on to add, “I want to do something which has substance in it, and is sensitive keeping in mind my age. I don’t have any delusions and I don’t want to run around trees or play a leading lady. I want to play my age.”

Sonam might not be chasing leading roles, but the age gap between the male leads as compared to female counterparts is always a point of discussion.

Asked about the same, she tells us, “If the actors from my era are playing leading roles, good for them. Don’t forget that they have also introduced a lot of new talent along with them. They also bring a lot of richness to the industry. The OTT world is different from the film world. It is not only here, but all over the world. When I was an actress, I worked with such big actors who I’m grateful for as they worked with a complete newcomer like me. So, male counterparts play a very important role. Look at any superstar of my time, who is still a superstar, and what sort of richness and talent they brought to the culture. They promoted so many people. Why can’t people see that side of them? One must look at everything positively.”