Sonali Bendre says she avoided dark roles after cancer battle: ‘Didn't want projects that would trigger me’

SOnali Bendre has fought and won her combat with malignant neoplastic disease after announcing in 2018 that she had been diagnosed with present quaternity metastatic malignant neoplastic disease. The actor beat cancer and later made a comeback to acting with the 2022 web show The Broken News. In a recent interaction, Sonali spoke about how she was only looking for hopeful and lighter roles after her cancer battle, but Raakh changed everything.Why Sonali said yes to Raakh?Speaking to News18, Sonali admitted that after her cancer battle, she was looking to take on "hopeful and lighter roles" that would keep her in a positive space. She said, “I really wanted to play hopeful and lighter roles that would’ve kept me happy through it all and I could’ve come back pepped up. I wanted work like that, especially since I had been through a really dark period.”Despite this, she said yes to playing the role of a grieving mother in Raakh, inspired by the infamous 1978 Ranga-Billa case. She admitted that ‘Raakh wasn’t something’ she was looking for and wasn't open to starring in it, but she agreed to do the show after reading its script and realising how compelling its content was.Sonali on her limited screen timeSonali, however, did share her discontent over her limited screen time on the show. “It’s not the length I like. I would’ve loved to see more of me in the series. But I’m glad I took the chance because it has been an exceptionally amazing experience.” However, the actor also admitted that the kind of roles she is getting now, she wouldn’t have gotten those in the 90s, despite being among the top stars of that time. She admitted that she is currently in a “good space.” About RaakhRaakh is inpsired by the abduction and murder of siblings Geeta (16) and Sanjay (14) Chopra in New Delhi by criminals Kuljeet Singh (alias Ranga) and Jasbir Singh (alias Billa) in 1978. The show, directed by Prosit Roy, Anusha Nandakumar, and Sandeep Saket, weaves a fictional narrative inspired by the case. It also stars Ali Fazal, Aamir Bashir, Akash Singh Makhija, Ramandeep Yadav, Rakesh Bedi, and Anshul Chauhan in pivotal roles.Raakh has received positive reviews since its release last week. Hindustan Times gave the show 3.5 stars. The review read: “Raakh is not for bingeing. It is not for snack-sized consumption. It is meant to be experienced. It is Test cricket in the age of T20, a piece of art that demands your time and undivided attention. It leaves you with heaviness and questions about the unfairness in the world. But it also poses the same question Hannah Arendt posed in her 1963 book, Eichmann in Jerusalem - is evil truly banal?”