Shraddha always keeps saying Ma jaisi.
You know you're saying I played a mother in Phata Poster Nikla Hero actually I played a mother when I was 17-18 years old as well.
I remember like we had to kind of go behind a tree and hold a you know a cloth and then change behind
Hello everyone and welcome to Pinkvilla special Mother’s Day edition called Dear Mom.
Today we are speaking to an actress who's ruled the hearts of her fans and admirers for nearly five decades.
She started out as a child artist and has given major hits in films like Prem Rog, Woh Saat Din, Souten and many more. Yes, we are talking about Padmini Kolhapureji.
Ma'am welcome to Pinkvilla.
Thank you, thank you for having me on your show.
Before we start speaking about the reel and the real mom, I want to start by asking you recently
became a mother-in-law when Priyaank got married you know, how has this transition been for you?
You know it doesn't feel any different because Priyaank and Shaza were together for many, many years
and she was in and out of our home so of course by coming into this house she's made it even more special home
for all of us because we missed you know having a daughter so we didn't have a daughter so for us she has actually filled that void for us.
I’ve always heard Shraddha saying that she had you have been like a mother figure to her and now
there is Tejaswiniji's daughter as well who I was speaking to her recently and she told me how much
you and your sister pampers her with gifts all the time. Have you been like a protective maasi to both of them?
Highly protective.
Maasi is Ma jaisi.
Yeah I know Shraddha always keeps saying Ma jaisi you know she keeps saying that but yeah I mean
it's a fact actually maasi is ma jaisi and then thing is whether it's a maasi or a bua or you know if you
live together and you kind of constantly with each other see there's so many maasis' who live away
from their nieces so there is a slight gap you don't really necessarily you know are that close if I you
live away and if you're not constantly in touch but for us it's like Shraddha lives right here very close
to my house right behind my house and Vedika that's Tejaswini’s daughter they just when he lives
about two three minutes’ drive from my home. So that way we are constantly in and out of each other's hair I would say.
You played Shahid Kapoor's mother in Phata Poster Nikla Hero
but then there was this beautiful Marathi film called Prawaas which I saw a while back where you
Oh, you did?
I did. I loved the film. It was such a nice film.
Oh lovely. Thank you.
And you know in that film of course but you are not really a mother and in that. There are many
roles that you have especially of a very devoted wife and through the filming you all we also see that
you start getting back to your hobby you start loving yourself how do you think a woman's character
especially a mother's character is being shown on screen now from when you started out in 72’ I
think you started out as a child artist and now in 2021, what is the difference do you see between mother of then and mother of today onscreen?
You know you're saying I I played a mother in in Phata Poster Nikla Hero actually I played a mother
when I was 17-18 years old as well I did films like Pyar Ke Kabil where I played a mother in
Pyaar Jhukta Nahin I played a mother of course the kids were younger but I did play a mother and you
know then I didn't know what motherhood was I didn't know what it felt like being a mother not
that it made me sort of perform any differently when I was in Phata Poster but you see the
portrayal of a mother has definitely evolved , you know. Like we spoke earlier you know women are
thinking differently women are much more liberal, much more open-minded, much more
broad-minded. So you have all kinds of mothers being played in you know on the OTT or in movies. Yeah, or on television.
You know what I really meant to ask is that how for example earlier a mother’s character only used to be
limited to a mother she was just the mother was dependent on the son but today there is more to
her. For example, if we speak about Neena Gupta's character in Badhaai Ho you know she was not only
a mother to Ayushmann Khurrana but it was really a story about her and her husband who conceived
in at in the middle age you know this and possibly these characters have given more meat to for
actresses of a certain vintage to grab on and perform rather than what used to be a very vanilla character in earlier time, do you agree with that ma'am?
Definitely I mean now they're showing sort of portraying more like mother's journey, mother's life
you know which they are emphasizing on which is bringing about such beautiful nuances to that
character. Yeah. You know it's no more that typical you know olden days how a mother was portrayed
or even a mother-in-law for that matter so it's they kind of it's they're sort of bringing much
more life to the characters and much more how do you say realism and you know so you're able to
sort of actually justify more what a mother is all about I mean today's woman is like she's
multifaceted. She's truly a woman of subject substance.
Also, you know there's this challenge of being a working woman and I want to ask you Priyaank if I’m
not mistaken was born in 1990 and .89' and you were working back then. How did you manage to
be like a working woman who was and back then used to be
You know when Priyaank was born I tell you what, when Priyaank was born I had finished all my assignments by then.
When Priyaank was born I was totally with him for I think the first 13 or 14 years of his life I was
totally dedicated and devoted to, maybe few spots one two days you know of patchwork left here
and there but otherwise Priyaank I mean I was with him in his years till I would say 13-14 and then
when he kind of you know when he got to know that okay my mom's an actor and you know you
know how children are than this oh yeah mom's an actor I know this is the film she's on and he said
that mom actually why don't you start acting again he said I said he said that he's and he said you
were there with me when I needed you the most. So now you can just go ahead and start working I’m grown up now.
But there are so many working women out there right who are balancing both their lives and you know doing it
Absolutely. I really salute to them you know it's really, it's not easy because they work, they come
home, they cook, they look after their children ,they clean, I mean what not they take up their I mean
Tejaswini is also a working woman and but you know today's man is also very helpful, very
supportive so I think we have to even give it to the men because like they've kind of come to terms
with this that they have to also you know help their women, their wives.
Are you choosy about your parts
I am. Yes. I am very much. I mean I’m I’m not really clamoring or I’m not sort of really jumping at
everything that's coming my way. I want to take it at my I mean I’ve always done that since I
restarted and when I was working it was I had no choice I was doing two and three shifts daily so
I think for me then was too hard to sort of decide what I wanted to the only thing I probably put my
foot down then was I didn't want to work on Sundays. That was the only thing others we were
shooting every single day it was like maddening. I mean we functioned then as well brilliantly
without our vanity vans or without the monitors or without so many other things the luxuries that are there today.
Yeah. But what was that like, do you remember any funny incident of these you know of missing these luxuries on a set that you were in your
So many I remember like we had to kind of go behind a tree and hold a you know a cloth and then
change behind and you know things like that or if it was raining we would just had to run under you
know it's it like I said we didn't have these luxuries that are there we had to sit out in the sun if you
were shooting on the beach, we had to sit there in that you know sun okay, we had umbrellas then but
still it was not the same as it is today you know wherever you go you have your fans, you have your coolers.
I agree with you.
Thank you so much ma'am for this lovely conversation.
Thank you thank you for having me on Pinkvilla.
Thank you lovely talking to you Avinash.
Thank you
Same here ma'am. Bubye. Bye