Raakhee Gulzar Returns To Acting After 15 Years

The ethereal Raakhee Gulzar who mesmerized her fans through the 1970s in classics such as Sharmilee, Kabhi Kabhie, Tapasya and Paroma is back on the screen, this time in a Bengali-Hindi bilingual directed by veteran Bangla director Gautam Haldar .

Speaking  exclusively  on her return to acting ,the veteran actress known to have  turned down numerous offers  in  recent years, revealed why she agreed to return to acting. “Normally I’d say no to any acting offer , no matter how tempting. But when the director told me that he was doing a screen adaptation  of Moti Nandy’s classic novel Bijolibalar Mukti  I agreed to make an exception this time.”

The film was originally made  in Bengali. But now the  filmmakers feel  a Hindi version would also be relevant.

Explains Raakheeji, “It is  a very topical subject  . It touches on communal and caste  issues and also on the rights and privileges of  a 70-year old Brahmin widow. We  shot the film in Bengali. But now on  the  director’s request we are dubbing the  film in Hindi also.”

Raakheedi  who  is very closely attached to Bengal and Kolkata returns to her favourite city at the  end  of  the  month  to dub in Hindi for the film which , she informs, is called Mukti in Bengali and Nirvaan in Hindi.