Sonali Bendre says she did many ‘cringe films’ to pay her rent: ‘You couldn’t watch them’

Sonali Bendre was an impressive actor in the 1990s but despite many fans in her corner, Sonali did not appear in many impactful roles during her early years. The actor, who made her debut with 1994’s Aag, was recently asked why she chose to be a part of many mediocre films and owning up to her decisions from the time, Sonali said that she did many of those ‘cringe films’ because she needed the money.
In a chat with Siddharth Kannan, Sonali said, “I needed the money, I needed to pay the rent. I had bills to pay. My family was going through tough times. I came into this line so I could make money so that was my choice at that time.”

Recalling her thought process from the time, Sonali said that she would wonder why she was doing certain roles but would almost instantly dract herself thinking about her next paycheque. “Many times I thought ‘why am I doing this?’ but then I would think ‘when is the next paycheque coming?’ I thought let’s do it, move on. There are a lot of my films that I have not seen because you couldn’t watch them,” she said.

When asked how she would perform the so-called cringe scenes, Sonali said that when it comes to survival, nothing is cringe-worthy. “When you have to pay the bills and the rent, nothing is cringe. The real cringe would be when you won’t have a house to live in. That is the survival instinct and you have to do it,” she said.Best of Express PremiumPremiumPremiumPremiumPremium
Sonali also recalled that she had no godfather in the industry, and she never even needed one. “To choose between the two, I would rather do the cringe and take my paycheque home,” she said.
Sonali Bendre will next be seen in the ZEE5 show The Broken News.