'I needed to pay the rent': Bollywood star Sonali Bendre on doing mediocre films in the past

Bollywood's Sonali Bendre was a known actor in the 1990s but despite having many fans, she was not seen in big films. After many years the actor has now opened up and confessed that she took many mediocre roles in order to pay the bills.

On Wednesday, Duplicate star Bendre in a chat with Indian TV and radio host Siddharth Kannan said, “I needed the money, I needed to pay the rent. I had bills to pay. My family was going through tough times. I came into this line so I could make money so that was my choice at that time.”

Recalling her thoughts from that time, the 47-year-old said that at times she wonders why she did certain roles but would instantly distract herself by reminding herself of the next paycheque. “Many times I thought ‘why am I doing this?’ But then I would think ‘when is the next paycheque coming?’ I thought let’s do it, move on. There are a lot of my films that I have not seen because you couldn’t watch them."

Bendre also mentioned that she had no godfather in the industry, nor did she need one. “To choose between the two, I would rather do the cringe and take my paycheque home."

The actor will be making an OTT debut with Zee5's The Broken News, a Hindi adaptation of Mike Bartlett’s BBC show Press. According to Variety, the plot features two rival news channels based in Mumbai – Awaaz Bharati, an independent, ethical news channel, and Josh 24/7 News, which offers sensationalist and invasive journalism, and what transpires between the main characters in their quest for news.

The show marks Bendre's streaming debut. She stars alongside Paatal Lok star Jaideep Ahlawat, Mirzapur actor Shriya Pilgaonkar, Aundhati star Indraneil Sengupta, Taaruk Raina, Aakash Khurana and Kiran Kumar.