Kanwaljit Singh on playing a patriarchal father-in-law to Sanya Malhotra in Mrs: The role reversal meme is my prayaschit
After playing a patriarchal father-in-law to Sanya Malhotra in Mrs, actor Kanwaljit Singh has came up with a role reversal meme calling it his “prayaschit”.
One of actor Kanwaljit Singh’s recent projects — Mrs — where he played the patriarchal father-in-law to actor Sanya Malhotra’s character, has become a huge talking point.
Talking about this sudden moment of spotlight, the actor tells us, “Never before have I got so many responses and feedback — both praise and hate. Meri zindagi mein pehli baar hua aisa! There is a string of memes on my character. One Punjabi woman said to me, ‘Usey ‘betaji’ lafz se hi nafrat ho gai hai (sic).’ And in fact, the word ‘betaji’ was my addition to the script.”
Opening about his character and the role-reversal viral clip, where he can be seen serving dishes instead, the 72-year-old shares, “My character in Mrs is not really a villain and one of those people, we see in our families. But maine bhi meme bana dala role-reversal karke and it went viral with multi-million (8 million) views. Yeh mera prayaschit hai!”
He continues, “Rishika Mishra (the girl in the viral clip) is the granddaughter of [legendary kathak dancer] Sitara Devi. Since she is a kathak artiste, she has no stage fear. So, she agreed to do the role. It came out so well ki viral ho gaya.”
But the actor’s ‘prayaschit’ doesn’t just end here. He also recalls apologising to Sanya herself: “After the film was over, I went to Sanya and said, ‘Sorry, for being so cruel to you’. Mujhe bura laga ki women ko humare samaj mein yeh jhelna padta hai.”
He adds, “However, I come from a very liberal family and mere father meri mummy ko roz do cup chai bana kar dete the, and Saturday ko motorcycle pe Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh) mein cinema bhi dikhate the. I have also inherited his qualities.”
Nearly 5 decades in career, Singh says he has stopped counting years. “I have removed the rear-view mirror. After saying yes, I enjoy doing the project. My only apprehension is crying in front of camera but in Sooraj Barjatya’s OTT series Bada Naam Karenge the Tauji ko rulwa hi diya. I play a very British accent role man in the film Mere Husband Ki Biwi. In my upcoming films Single Salma and Baba Azmi’s project, both shot in Lucknow, I have very different roles. Film Punjab 95 is sub-judice and will also hopefully come soon. So, maza aa rahi hai.”
