As actor Ragini Khanna gets ready for a chat with The Hindu, I aimlessly gaze at the pictures that are hung up on the walls. Among paintings of Krishna and a few portraits of her elder brother, actor Amit Khanna, there is a large collage of images of her career from over the years. “Unfortunately, I’ve become the centre of attention every place I go,” the young actor says between giggles. “And if I don’t get it, I don’t feel welcome enough!” She bursts into mirthful laughter, but her tone is far from pompous. Rather, it reflects an honesty that keeps our exchange refreshing. The actor will soon be seen in director Shankar Raman’s upcoming neo-noir thriller Gurgaon where she plays the quiet and resigned Preet, far from her off-screen persona. “I’ve surprised myself more than anyone else,” she says.
Star connections
Khanna is no stranger to the entertainment industry, having grown up in a family of performers. Her late father Praveen Khanna was a film producer while her mother, RJ Kaamini Khanna, is the daughter of renowned thumri singer Nirmala Devi, and Hindi film actor Arun Kumar Ahuja. Her family tree branches out with more entertainers: several cousins are television actors and her uncle is actor Govinda. But the young Khanna never wanted to enter the industry with her family’s help. “The last thing I ever wanted was to get an offer through my parents,” she shares. To make it on her own as a performing singer, Khanna auditioned for Coke [V] Popstars to join the all-girl pop band Viva, but got rejected because she was underage. Heartbroken but determined, she worked for a call centre, distributed her pictures and auditioned for roles before landing her first television show, Radhaa Ki Betiyaan Kuch Kar Dikhayengi.
With around a decade of successful television stints behind her — from acting to hosting shows — Khanna will now be seen in her third venture on the big screen. Gurgaon revolves around the tensions spurred by the return of Preet – the daughter of Karma Devi and property mogul Kehri Singh — from Paris after studying architecture. “Preet is more felt than spoken,” Khanna describes her character. “She’s more about her subtext than what she chooses to act upon.”
Dabbling in diversity
The role is significantly different from the outgoing and bubbly personas she’s portrayed on television. With Radhaa… she was seen as the ambitious Ragini Sharma; in Bhaskar Bharti she played a man cursed to be trapped in a woman’s body; and in Sasuraal Genda Phool she was the vivacious Suhana. So when casting director Mukesh Chhabra and debutant director Shankar Raman thought of Khanna for Gurgaon, she didn’t think twice about joining the team. “It is refreshing to know that somebody views you beyond your image,” she says about Preet’s role standing in contrast to her other works.
After its world premiere at the International Film Festival and Awards, Macao (2016), Gurgaon also bagged the Work in Progress Lab’s fiction award at the National Film Development Corporation’s Film Bazaar. “This film has taken me to a space I have never been before,” shares the young actor. “And in Macao, being in such a rarefied environment, it just makes you feel like you’ve done something right.”
But the journey was not always smooth: Khanna found herself jittery at moments, considering the gritty noir demanded that she be in a space that was completely new to her. She often discussed Preet with cinematographer-turned-director Raman during these times and describes him as a driving force. “But I always found it funny how the most peaceful and Zen-like people were making such a violent film!” she says before a fit of laughter takes over.
Signing off, Khanna says she wants to do another film that challenges her comfort zones. She’s certain though that she will not repeat a role like Preet’s: “Why should I copy and ape my own self?”