After being repeatedly typecast as a domestic helper in films and TV shows, Sunita Rajwar decided to quit acting. But, her luck turned. The actor bared it all in an honest chat with Brut at the Cannes Film Festival. Brut is the official media partner of the Cannes Film Festival. #Cannes2024
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00:00Everybody used to give me only maids role. I was so scared
00:03I thought one day I'm going to get my name in Skinny's book of record
00:06This is the girl who has played only maids role in her whole life
00:10When you do small roles, you are not respected. You are not paid well. You are treated like animals
00:16Which is so heartbreaking. Hi, I'm Sunita Rajwar and you're watching me on Groot
00:22In my family, my sister, she's very very beautiful and I was such a bad-looking kid
00:33Dark and very bad-looking. Theatre was my thing, not media
00:38Bollywood, industry. This I had never ever dreamt
00:41I'm speechless. Actually, this is beyond my dreams. The film, my character and then coming to Cannes
00:57I have to pinch myself, literally. And then the place, the vibes and the love we have received from the audience
01:06It's amazing. Isse zyada aur kuchh maangi nahi sakta hai insaan
01:12My first role was, there was a TV series called CID which was quite famous
01:27That's the fact that we actors get typecast. I think this is generally because there are two reasons
01:34One, it becomes very easy for the director to select an artist because they know
01:40Okay, this character, this person will be able to do it. So, they don't want to work on a new character
01:47And also for artists, that's their bread and butter. At times, it's very difficult to say no to all the work that's coming
01:54So, they know they are getting similar roles but they keep on doing the roles because that's their earning
02:01They have to do that. It is painful but it's a fact
02:08When I earlier came, I'm from a very small town and from a lower middle class family
02:15So, what happens? Mentally, you feel very low wherever you go
02:21If you go to some high party or if you go to a big city in a big production house
02:26You feel very outcasted because it's in you. It's not that they show
02:32But because you have that background, it's in you. You always feel low
02:38So, for a long time, people used to praise a lot but everybody used to give me only maid's role
02:44I was so scared. I thought one day I'm going to get my name in Skinny's book of record
02:49This is the girl who has played only maid's role in her whole life
02:54Yes, that was a very unexpected and very sad experience that I had in the industry
03:03Lead actors, they are given the call time as per their facility
03:08I understand that also because most of my friends are lead actors
03:13I understand they work 24x7 and they work all 30 days
03:18High character artists, they work 20-25 days or 15-10 days
03:22But lead actors have to be in each and every frame and then they have to work all 30 days
03:28But still, after a while, they give their call time
03:33I'll not come before 8, I'll leave before 7
03:36And that all facilities and that all priorities they give them
03:40If you know you are not shooting with a particular artist, then they call them later
03:46What's the need of making them sit?
03:48So, it's like as if you are trying to show others down
03:53How does it matter?
03:54So, yes, lead actors, they are pampered like anything, whatever they say
04:00Their room will be neat, they will have a proper room, they will have a solo room
04:04They will have a fridge, they will have a microwave, oven, they will have their staff
04:09Whereas others, we like in a small tingy room, they will make 3-4 people sit
04:14Roof is falling down, no clean bathroom
04:18And then they will never ask you if you want anything or not
04:22Your bedsheet will be dirty and all
04:24And they will get everything
04:26So, yes, there's like a lot of difference
04:29Seeing all this, I always felt so bad
04:36I cancelled my SINTA card, I left acting
04:39Nina Gupta, she's a good friend of mine
04:42She told me one day, what are you doing these days?
04:44I said I just left acting and I don't know, I'll do anything
04:48Maybe I'll assist again because I assisted before also
04:52I'll do anything but I'm not going to act again because this is humiliating
04:56When you do small roles, you are not respected, you are not paid well
05:00You are treated like animals, which is so heartbreaking
05:04And they don't give you the right call time
05:08They don't want you to come early in the morning
05:10And your shot will be done in the evening
05:13They will ask you to get your own clothes
05:16And the treatment over there, that all is so heartbreaking
05:19So I felt, doctor has not prescribed me this acting
05:23That this is not going to give me any
05:26And if I'm not happy doing what I'm doing, let me leave it
05:29So I left acting for 2 years, 2013-14-15
05:34I left acting and I worked as a manager to Masawa
05:42Suddenly I got a call from a production house
05:45And they were offering me a Chaachi ka character
05:49So that was a big thing for me, so I said yes to them
05:57Then it was only Chaachi, Mami, Ma, Amma, Dadi and all
06:01So it was okay
06:05How do you feel about your acting career?
06:09All the ads that I have done, all the other series
06:13Some of them which I did and some which I said no
06:16They all had similar thing
06:19They all want Bittu ki Mami aur Pranthi Devi
06:22How do you feel about your acting career?
06:25I keep on checking my bank balance
06:29I just, you know, I have this
06:32I thank God that I'm not too fussy when it comes to choosing roles
06:38Because I know I'm an actor and this is the way I'm going to earn
06:43Yes, after a certain time I have started saying no to a few projects
06:48Where I felt I can say no, I have this security
06:55But the other projects that you do, you know
06:58These days a lot of students are coming to me with good projects
07:03With good scripts and good roles
07:05So my actress hunger, that angst
07:11I fulfil it with those people
07:15Whether there is no money in it
07:17But they give me that satisfaction of an artist
07:21And for my bread and butter I do these
07:24Okay, I'll do it
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