Actor Priya Bapat is a renowned name in the Marathi film industry, and in Hindi she has done projects like City Of Dreams and Rafuchakkar. She credits the OTT medium for bridging the gap between Marathi and Hindi audiences for her. She says, “I never tried doing Hindi films early on as it was never my ambition. When I thought of venturing in Hindi, OTT gave me a medium to explore. Due to OTT, more stories were made with better actors and lesser stars.”
The 37-year-old insists that being a Marathi actor, she is mostly offered only Marathi parts in Bollywood. She shares, “It happens all the time. One needs to look at an actor beyond the language barrier. You need to be given those opportunities.” However, Bapat asserts that calling it ‘discrimination’ is too strong a word. “I am sure there will be a time when people will see me for beyond where I come from. Right now, I am getting to play characters that are strong but are from a Marathi background. It’s okay as long as the character and story are interesting,” she says.
The actor has been managing work in both Marathi and Hindi, but it’s been six years since she did a Marathi film. Ask her why and she explains, “There was nothing challenging offered to me. On the other hand, Hindi offered me some great shows to explore more genres than what I did in Marathi.” Talking of the positioning of Marathi cinema, Bapat says, “Right now, in Marathi, I don’t think anyone is visualising a bigger story. There will be a time soon when they will. There was a time when people weren’t coming to watch Marathi films in theatres, but things are getting better now.”
Currently, Bapat is working with Sumeet Vyas on his debut directorial show and she is all praise for him. “I never felt it’s an actor who is trying to direct. It was always a director with a very clear vision. He has such a brilliant sense of humour and it just feels that everything is going to be alright when you look at him,” she ends.
