‘They Declared Me Dead!’

‘There
was
panic
among
my
friends
and
relatives
since
I
was
out
of
reach.’
‘My
son-in-law
Govind
drove
down
to
my
home
to
check
on
my
wellbeing.’
‘When
I
opened
the
door,
he
joked,
“Bhoot
Bhoot!”‘

Raakhee
is
miffed
by
certain
sections
of
the
media,
who
take
advantage
of
her
silence.

“Just
because
I
don’t
react,
some
journalists
think
they
can
write
anything.
Someone
wrote
my
husband
Gulzar
slapped
me.
I
just
may
slap
a
defamation
case
on
this,”
she
tells

Subhash
K
Jha.

“Another
media
outlet
declared
me
dead.
There
was
panic
among
my
friends
and
relatives
since
I
was
out
of
reach.
My
son-in-law
Govind
drove
down
to
my
home
to
check
on
my
wellbeing.
When
I
opened
the
door,
he
joked,
‘Bhoot
Bhoot!'”

The
elusive
actor
has
just
returned
to
Mumbai
after
a
satisfying
stint
at
the
55th
International
Film
Festival
Of
India
(IFFI)
in
Goa.

Not
known
to
travel
to
any
festival,
Raakhee
reveals
why
she
made
an
exception
for
this
one:
“My
first
instinct
was
to
say
no.
But
then
I
was
told
that
two
of
my
films
were
being
shown
in
Goa.
One
of
them
is
my
new
Bengali
film

Amar
Boss
which
has
turned
out
well.
The
other
is
one
of
my
earliest
films,

27
Down.
It
was
the
first
time
I
was
watching
the
film
since
it
was
made.”

What
did
she
think
of
herself
and

27
Down?

“Oh,
I
think
very
highly
of
it.
I
felt
it
was
so
ahead
of
its
time.
Do
you
know
Director
Awtar
Kaul
passed
away
a
day
before
he
was
to
receive
the
National
Award
for
Best
Feature
Film
in
Hindi?
The
film
is
about
a
man
who
has
to
thwart
his
dreams
to
join
the
railways,
like
his
father.
I
played
a
financially
independent
working
woman
with
a
mind
of
her
own.
This
was
a
rarity
back
then,
50
years
ago,”
she
says.

About

Amar
Boss,
she
says,
“I
play
the
family
matriarch
who,
despite
her
age,
makes
sure
the
family
knows
she
is
the
boss.
It
is
co-directed
by
Shiboprosad
Mukherjee
and
Nandita
Roy
who
recently
had
the
big
Bangla
hit,

Bohurupi.
Shiboprosad
also
plays
the
male
lead.”

Raakhee
is
all
praise
for
the
organisers
of
the
Goa
festival.

“There
were
no
glitches.
I
received
a
lot
of
love
at
the
festival.
Youngsters
treated
me
like
their
own
grandmother.
It
was
relaxed
and
pleasant.
The
minister
of
information
and
broadcasting
Ashwini
Vaishnav
is
taking
his
job
seriously,”
she
says.

As
for
doing
more
films,
Raakhee
protests,
“It’s
not
as
if
I
am
not
open
to
offers.
But
where
do
I
fit
in?
I
am
certainly
not
playing
the
typical
mother
or
grandmother
whose
only
reason
to
live
for
her
son.
I
will
play
a
role
of
a
woman
with
a
mind
of
her
own
as
I’ve
done
in

Amar
Boss.”

“There
is
a
narrative
being
propagated
in
a
section
of
the
media
that
I
am
no
longer
keen
on
working,
and
that
I
live
outside
Mumbai.
None
of
this
is
true.”