It takes a great amount of self-confidence for an actor to say out loud that they are only "moderately famous" and even more self-assurance to pen down a book titled The Perils Of Being Moderately Famous. But Soha Ali Khan, it seems, knows the significance of the combination of right words and good humor all too well.
The actor turned writer with her memoir and makes no qualms in accepting that despite coming from a family of superlative talent, she might not be at the top, but somewhere in the middle. "I come from a family where everyone is a star. So I thought belonging to this family and industry, I am someone who is not a top ranker, but someone in the middle. So, the idea of being moderately famous came naturally, and a bit of self-deprecating humor was natural," she says in an exclusive interaction with News18.com.
She further shares her identity has been linked to that of her family members but none of it made her feel any less. "Often, I have been recognised as Saif Ali Khan’s sister or Sharmila Tagore and Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi’s daughter. I don't think I've ever felt overshadowed. I've understood that they are hugely successful in their chosen professions."
"And that's why I came up with the whole title also of "Moderately Famous" because I know that they are big shoes to fill and I keep laughing and saying that I have small feet," she adds. Soha knows that comparisons were made, and more often than not, they were not in her favor. "But there was really never any pressure to try and meet up to that level of success. Also, I think that within the family, everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. For example, one strength that everyone in my family turns to me for is my diplomacy and ability to bridge the gap between lots of people. So, I think everyone has their corner in the family which makes them feel secure and gives them a sense of self," explains the actor.
Soha reveals that it wasn't her decision to write the book but Penguin, the publishers, approached her saying they know she likes to read a lot. "I was like yes, I do like reading, but that doesn't mean that I could write a book. I told them that to write 40,000-50,000 words is a huge task and what I said was that let me write an introduction. I would like it to be non-fiction because I honestly don't have the imagination for creative fiction."
"I felt that there are certain things about my life that I can draw from and might be humorous. It's interesting to be me, and to belong to this family. I wrote it and shared it with some members of my family and some friends and the feedback was more or less encouraging and that's why I decided to write the book," she shares.
Soha also shares that while there are pros and cons to everything, the film industry is a magical place to be in. "It's a beautiful profession. I think most people want to do acting or at least do some acting on screen and when you grow up surrounded by actors as your family friends and relatives in that kind of lifestyle, not that I had that, because I grew up in Delhi more than I did in Mumbai, of course there's a certain comfort level and a certain respect and a certain love that I got from the industry that I did not have to earn myself."
"I would like to think that I would have earned it myself but it would have taken me a little bit longer. Here, it was just gifted to me," she adds.
In terms of cons, Soha lists out "the comparisons with more famous members of your family and when it comes to the film industry, the insecurities, the competition" and adds that while some points are changing, the shelf life of a female actor in this industry still isn't great and that content-driven films aren't the norm.
Having worked in films like Rang De Basanti, Khoya Khoya Chand and Tum Mile among others, one might feel that an actual reservoir of talent is yet to be tapped. And to this, Soha says, "I think if you constantly wait for films like Rang De, then you'll be sitting at home doing nothing and the idea is to be employed and do interesting roles. You never really know how they're going to turn out. So, it's not that I want to do only "thinking" roles or content driven cinema. I don't mind doing the light-hearted comedy ones once in a while as well."
Soha admits that Rang De Basanti was one-of-a-kind film and says, "There'll never be a film like that and an opportunity like that. That's why I'm forever grateful to Rakesh Mehra for selecting me for that role of Sonia. I do feel that there's a lot of my potential that hasn't been tapped and I look forward to that being tapped by directors like Tigmanshu Dhulia in Saheb Biwi Gangster and other films as well. I still feel that there is a lot to come," she signs off.
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