Married actresses [in Bollywood] are a dead commodity: Rani Mukherjee

After a four year hiatus, Rani Mukherjee's comeback film Hichki has been a success at the box office and she's proving a point through it.

Speaking to The Indian Express, the actress opens up about the discrimination married actresses face in Bollywood and how she hopes that her film's success changes this perception.

"Success this time meant a lot because there are basic prejudices that come with married actresses and those who are mothers; how we are a dead commodity. We don’t sell and that no one wants to see us. Then to actually have an audience that showers so much love on you and tells you, 'We don’t care whether you are married or a mother. We just want to see you on screen.' That validation matters a lot because as a professional, I am the same girl," she said.

The 40-year-old actress added, "Just because I got married and had a baby, nothing changed in me. I am the same actor. I don’t know why this stigma has been attached to actresses that once we want to have a life of our own, we have to give up on our other love. Actors don't get this. They have a successful career and lead their normal lives. Only actresses are made to choose marriage late in their lives because they feel our commodity dies once we are married."

For her, when speaking of her film's success it's the audience who matters: The opinion of the audience matters. It’s never the actor. It’s the audience because as an actor I will always give my 100 per cent like I gave before I became a mother.

On speaking her mind on issues now, Rani said, "Today, people are more accepting of you. They don’t keep you on a pedestal. You are not nonhuman.

"Everyone’s looking at you as a normal person. That’s also the persona you want to project that yes, we are stars but we are also attainable and we can make mistakes. Even if I have an opinion that doesn’t mean it has to be everyone else’s. No one’s going to take it so seriously that they will change their lives. And if they do, then great but they are aware that Rani also has flaws."