Renuka Shahane Says, 'Progressive Or Regressive, TV Has Always Been Women's Medium'

Renuka Shahane shared this image. (Image courtesy: renukash710 )

Actress Renuka Shahane, who has starred in TV shows like Mrs Madhuri Dixit and Kora Kagaz, believes that television has always been a "women's medium," reports news agency PTI. During a recent interview, Renuka opened up about why she took a sabbatical from the entertainment industry, why she prefers doing progressive roles and many more things. Ms Shahane told PTI: "Whether it is progressive or regressive, TV has always been a women's medium. Most of the heroes and heroines of the small screen have been women. In that sense, I have done much more TV than film. In the Eighties and the Nineties, women were not given meaty roles except a Sridevi once in a while." The 52-year-old actress, who has headlined the cast of several content-driven television shows added, "I have been privileged to get really good stuff when television was in its golden age. Then, I kind of took a backseat at the right time when the daily soaps took over and it changed the profile of television totally."

Besides being a part of television shows and featuring in films, Renuka Shahane has also featured in the web-series 3 Storeys, co-starring Richa Chadda, Sharman Joshi and Pulkit Samrat. The 52-year-old actress, who is currently seen playing the role of a mother in the web-series What The Folks, said that the digital platform has opened a "whole new world" of opportunities. "It has opened a whole new world. You can relate with the content that was being done in the '90s on TV, but of course, in a modern context because things in the digital sphere are always on par with what is going on globally," PTI quoted her as saying.

When she was asked about why she did not take up any projects for a long time, Renuka Shahane, a mother of two, told PTI: "I was very clear about being a hands-on mother. I wanted to do that for a long time. I enjoyed seeing them growing up and I wasn't missing work much anyway as the content that was being made did not excite me much. So I didn't feel like going out of my way to work." Renuka Shahane is married to actor Ashutosh Rana. The couple are parents to Shauryaman and Satyendra.

Renuka Shahane became a household name after she featured in Sooraj Barjatya's 1994 film Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!Ghutan and 9 Malabar Hill are some of the other shows in which she has featured. She was last seen in the 2018 Marathi film Bucket List, co-starring Madhuri Dixit.

(With inputs from PTI)