“Can someone please check if my sari looks okay? Do I look like a teacherji?” Ratna Pathak Shah asks nervously. She makes no secret of the fact that she is uncomfortable posing for pictures. “We are actors. We’re not used to standing silently; we’re used to speaking,” she complains to the photographer, before mischievously suggesting they exchange places. Behind her, Supriya Pathak Kapur glances up from her phone with a smile, then comes forward to smooth her didi’s sari. “She’s always had this fear of looking like a teacher,” she tells us with an affectionate eyeroll. “I don’t know why, when she acts so much like one.” Ratna retorts with a chuckle: “That’s exactly why.”
At first glance, it is hard to believe the two veteran actors are related. They do not resemble each other in appearance, as Ratna herself has pointed out in previous interviews, comparing her sharp features to Supriya’s doe eyes. On the small screen, they have carved out separate niches for themselves: Ratna is best known for playing the scathing, sarcastic and sophisticated matriarch Maya in the 2000s cult-classic comedy Sarabhai vs Sarabhai, while Supriya’s role as the endearingly naive and cheerful Hansa in Khichdi made her a household name. Even in the two-part crossover of these shows (Khichdi with Sarabhai), which aired in 2005, they seemed to be polar opposites.
“We’re very different, as you might have noticed,” Ratna confirms between shots. She is always in motion, bursting with energy as she fixes a sofa cushion or circles around the living room of her home, asking crew members if they’d like some chai. In contrast, Supriya is blissfully serene, seated on an armchair by the window with all her attention focused on me. “There’s so little in common,” she agrees with her elder sister. “Except our love for Gujarati food,” Ratna adds. And of course, acting.
Photographed by Vikas Gotra.
It is impossible to imagine the two doing anything else but this. In 2013, when Supriya bagged the Filmfare Award for best supporting actress in Goliyon ki Rasleela Ram-Leela, she gushed in her acceptance speech, “I love this industry so much, I love being a part of this place. And I hope that when I go, I go from here.” Over a decade later, her sentiments have persisted, her passion for acting untouched by the exasperating politics and pomposity of the film industry. “I have a lot of problems with the people, the set-ups, the attitude,” she concedes. “But put me on a set of any kind, and I can take to it like a duck to water.” The 65-year-old speaks softly, with a pleasant half-smile reaching her eyes at all times. A far cry from some of the loud, screen-dominating characters that have made her popular.
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