The boss lady at YRF, one of B-town’s leading production houses, returned to the floors and it has been quite a decision for this baby-besotted mama. Opening up about leaving Adira home and returning to films, Rani reveals, “I had this anxiety about leaving my daughter at home because it was going to be a new environment for her. She is not going to see me for a few hours, which she is used to. It is a dilemma that every working mother goes through where you face this anxiety.”
She added, “The child will soon get used to it. I am sure Adira will understand that both her parents leave home for work. It will be normal and it will be something that she will be proud of.”
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Rani believes that the situation in India, where many working women leave their jobs after motherhood, is changing. And helping things change for the better are fathers, who are getting more involved in the upbringing of their children. “People are still not ready to accept it,” she points out. “It is a hesitation that they need to overcome. Obviously, a child is more attached to the mother. But now fathers are also getting involved.”
The stigma attached to men contributing towards household chores and child-rearing needs to go, she points out. “When we expect that men should go out and work, those men should also be encouraged to participate in the housework. What happens is that they are discouraged from doing it. It is a mental block that we need to overcome.”
Rani reiterated what she had said before – that it was her husband and YRF head honcho Aditya Chopra, who encouraged her to return to acting. “As a director-producer, he understands that I also have a responsibility towards the people who have given me so much love and adoration. Now that I have a new family, I cannot leave my old family behind. I have to stay in touch with my fans. It is a part of me, which I cannot separate from,” she said.
Feminism, she vouches, should start at home. “The day every woman starts to make a difference in the house, a change will come in the country. You can’t bring about a change by just talking about feminism. If one wife decides not to put up with the injustice that her husband does, things will start to change.”
