A few years back marriage or relationships were considered as a dead end for female actors' careers. It became difficult for actors to find lead roles in films. However, it is changing that is what actor Priya Mani believes. Recently, she shared her thoughts on married women acting as a lead in films in an interview.
The Family Man fame, actor Priya Mani who got married to businessman Mustafa Raj in an intimate ceremony in Bengaluru in 2017 commented on the film industry and its approach to married actors. Priya Mani stated the film industry is finally accepting married women, "they didn't get lead roles earlier." Mani was in doubt about her career after getting married. She had apprehensions about whether she will be accepted by the industry after marriage or not. She explains, "It used to happen earlier in South industries.."
She pointed out that earlier married women after a hiatus from their careers due to family and responsibilities would try to come back but only would get roles of sister-in-law or character roles instead of lead roles.
Priyamani On Married Women Playing Lead
Mani reveals that her film career witnessed an evident transition after marriage saying, "Roles coming to me post-marriage are different." Mani agrees that times have changed for good in Bollywood as now people are accepting married women as well to play lead roles and not just cameos, the parts are written beautifully as well so there is nothing to complain about."
The actor is also happy with the way her career has grown, according to her between Virata Parvam (2022) and Charulatha (2012), marriage has not brought an unwanted break to her career. She also spoke about playing the role of a mother on-screen. As per the News 18 report, she said, "Initially, I was probably a bit apprehensive about playing a mother onscreen. In the Tamil industry, you get typecast very easily. But that also depends on how the character of a mother and her equation with her children are portrayed. Right now, people say it’s passé and that it doesn’t matter anymore even if you play a mother onscreen and I agree with them,
Mani has a critically acclaimed career in commercially hit films over a career span of two decades, but the actor got her pan-India fame through the popular show The Family Man starring Manoj Bajpayee as the main role of middle-class man Srikant Tiwari while Priyamani plays the role of Suchitra (Srikanth's wife). But the actress has been portraying the role of a mother in films from a young age and now is playing the role of a mother in a web show of Zee 5, Sarvam Shakthi Mayam.
Priyamani will next be seen in Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's Jawaan.
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