Raakh Actress Sonali Bendre Says Series Is Necessary To Depict Era And 'End Of Innocence' - Exclusive

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the new series Raakh, the Hindi series shows the gruesome kidnapping and murder of teenage siblings in Delhi in 1978. The children get a lift from strangers, not knowing the two men are thieves and murderers. The real-life incident inspired by the Ranga-Billa case sent shockwaves through the entire country. Sonali Bendre, who plays their mother Mona Arora, spoke to us about why she was interested in playing this complicated character and why the series is important to be seen even today. Directed by Prosit Roy, Raakh is created, written, and co-directed by Anusha Nandakumar and Sandeep Saket.

Sonali Bendre reveals why she was drawn to Raakh character

In an interview with Zoom, Sonali shared that she was told how to approach Mona's grief by the makers. She said, "The attraction to this character was the fact that there was this angle of grief that was given to me by the writers and the creators. This was given to me. Yeh mera addition nahin tha [I didn't add it]. I thought this was good about the character and I thought, I want to play this character. Otherwise, as a parent, when there is a loss, what will be your arc? Am I going for revenge? Am I going for what? If I'm not doing it, then what am I doing?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxMuc4kodEA

Her character Mona does not imagine that an ordinary conversation will be the last time that she will see her children. It was very interesting for Sonali and one of the key reasons she pursued the project. Sonali continued, "Sabka grief, feel karne ka, dikhane ka, mehsoos karne ka tareeka alag hota hai [Everyone experiences and shows grief differently]. And you cannot predict it. I can't predict my own grief because how will I actually feel on an occasion? The graph that they've written for her was so interesting that you go into a denial mode and you can believe it because kaun believe karna chahega isko [who will want to believe it]? It was logical that she will go in denial. How does Raakh depict life in the 1970s? Sonali also spoke about whythe series was a necessary watch. It is not only a historical recreation of a true-life event but it also depicts how simple and innocent life was during the late 1970s. She explained, "If you look at the show, it's in an age where a lift was casual, it was part of life. It shows you a period which was the end of innocence in society. All of us who have been through that era or have heard about it know that after that you started telling kids that jaldi aa jao ghar, lift nahin lena [go home early, don't take a lift], don't talk to strangers, which was not the norm.

"So somehow it was the change in the fabric of society and that's what is the beauty of this show, it points out that shift in that fabric. Even in the investigation you see forensics being set up. It's a huge new thing and it's beautiful to see how it helps crack the case," the actress added. Besides Sonali, Raakh also stars Ali Fazal, Aamir Bashir, Divya Sharma, Vivaan Sharma and Rakesh Bedi. Akash Makhija and Ramandeep Yadav play the infamous killers in the Amazon Prime Video series.