Versatile actor and film producer Manasi Parekh speaks exclusively to mid-day.com about her journey to secure not one but three National Film Awards after 20 years in showbiz
Manasi Parekh Pic/PTI
Versatile actor and film producer Manasi Parekh recently won the National Film Award for Best Actress. She was honoured for her role in the Gujarati film ‘Kutch Express’ (2023). Manasi admits that the win only sunk in while she was walking on stage at the Vigyan Bhawan. She speaks exclusively to mid-day.com about her journey to secure not one but three National Film Awards after 20 years in showbiz.
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Manasi Parekh on crying after winning National Film Award
Manasi Parekh was in tears as she walked up on stage wearing a bespoke outfit made using Bandhani, Patola, and Ajrakh - all being traditional weaves from Gujarat. Recalling her National Award-winning moment, she says, “It was just the sense of, you've started from nothing, you've done it on your own and you've done it the way you wanted it. And then that gets this kind of validation. It's just another feeling. I did not want to cry. But there are moments in your life that kind of overwhelm you, and for me, tears are my reaction to it. I'm quite sensitive and emotional.”
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Manasi Parekh on backing Kutch Express
Manasi Parekh states that she doesn’t want to get into anything run-of-the-mill. On backing ‘Kutch Express’ which also won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film Promoting National, Social, and Environmental Values, she says, “When we were kind of hearing the narrations, everybody was like, ‘Why are you making a film in Gujarati on two female characters?’ ‘Who watches female narratives in Gujarati?’ It's all about family dramas or slapstick comedies, and me and my husband (Parthiv Gohil), thankfully, we're both artists and both of us are very clear that we are here to do something different.”
Manasi Parekh on working with Ratna Pathak Shah
In ‘Kutch Express’ veteran actress Ratna Pathak Shah plays Manasi’s mother-in-law. Sharing her experience of working with the icon, she says, “When we were casting for Kutch, I was like, ‘I only see her as the mother-in-law’, and we said, ‘Let's just send her the script’. So we sent the script to her secretary and in seven days she came back with a ‘Yes’. She loved the script. She's like, ‘Oh my god, if I have to do Gujarati, then this is the film I want to step into the industry with’. She's a ball of energy, extreme spitfire.”
Manasi Parekh is here to do legendary work
She concludes by saying, “I'm somebody who walks my own path. I don't compete with anybody. I am here to do great work. I am here to do legendary work. I'm not here just to make money and to get my quick two seconds of fame and leave. I want to raise the bar higher for any regional language.”
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