Genelia - Central News Hub

The Journey of Genelia : From ‘Meow’ to multilingual stardom

Her upcoming film ‘Trial Period’ is a family drama that follows the journey of a single mother Ana, played by Genelia, whose world turns upside down when her inquisitive son demands a father on a trial period of 30 days…writes Durga Chakravarty

One of Bollywood’s most loved actresses Genelia Deshmukh or ‘Meow’, as many fondly call her courtesy her iconic character in from the 2008 movie ‘Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na’, has had a two-decade-long journey in the world of acting which she says she did not choose – it chose her.

Over her two decade long career, Genelia has not only worked in Bollywood but many other language films including Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada.

Looking back at her journey in the world of cinema, the 35-year-old actress said that she fell in love with acting along the way.

“I think my journey has been amazing. It has been a journey of appreciation because it wasn’t the career that I chose, it chose me. I fell in love on the way,” Genelia told.

She added: “I’ve had the opportunity to work with a lot of people, regions and hence I feel your craft has developed so much more because a girl in the north will be different from the girl in south, and having the opportunity to play so much just makes it a wholesome career.”

Genelia, who is gearing up for the release of her upcoming film ‘Trial Period’, was last seen on screen in the Hindi films ‘Mister Mummy’ and ‘Ved’ which released in 2022. Before that, she was in the 2016 film ‘Force 2’.

Would we now get to see her more often on screen?

“Initially, when I did films, I liked to plan the entire year. But now, I feel when I do a film, it means taking out that much time from kids, means giving just a lot more than just doing a number of films. So, I just want to own a choice that I make. I’d like to do a lot more work but I am happy to wait it out if it takes that kind of time to wait out too,” said that actress, who is married to actor Riteish Deshmukh.

Genelia and Ritesh got married in February 2012. The two welcomed their first son, Riaan, in 2014. Their second son, Rahyl, was born June 2016.

The ‘Tujhe Meri Kasam’ actress wanted to focus on family life as her children were younger.

“I took a break initially because my kids were younger and I felt that I needed that time. I feel that I am ready now and I feel I am ready to accept a lot more work. I feel there is a lot more work that comes according to what I want also.”

She believes she would do a lot more work now.

“So, I do believe I’ll be doing a lot more work now versus how I was in the last 10 years.”

“Yeah ‘Trial Period’ is a film of humour and innocence but what caught my interest was the fact that it was about a mum and the various things that are associated with it. It’s a lovely family entertainer.”

“It has various elements of family, neighbors in a love story which is not really conventional. It is very urban and countryside, which makes it really interesting.”

Produced by Jyoti Deshpande, presented by Jio Studios, a Chrome Pictures production, produced by Hemant Bhandari, Amit Ravindernath Sharma, and Aleya Sen, ‘Trial Period’ is set to be released on July 21 on JioCinema.

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Riteish: Parents should know what is best for their children

According to me, that kind of camaraderie and compatibility is important in a relationship…Genelia speaks with Siddhi Jain.

Star couple Genelia and Riteish share their thoughts and pictures on social media frequently. Bollywood duo say that they often spend time discussing how progressive they should be as parents, and what thoughts their children should be brought up with. “We try to imbibe in the importance of religion and not just our religion, but every religion out there. We try to instill the importance of God in them,” the couple tells.

The couple tied the knot in 2012 after dating for almost a decade, and have two sons — Riaan and Rahyl.

Riteish Deshmukh shares: “It’s important for every parent to think about what is best for their children, we cannot judge our upbringing based on how others bring up their children. Having said that, society today poses a lot of questions, situations and points that were looked down upon 20 years ago which only goes to show that we cannot be focused on thinking of today but about what society will be 20 years in the future when our kids are adults.”

He adds that the “one thing” that they focus on is “giving our children the freedom to think for themselves”.

Asked if it’s high time that people move beyond gender roles, Genelia answers in an affirmative.

“Yeah, I definitely do. I think it’s typecast to a large extent, I mean like Ritiesh and myself, when we think about the division of chores, it’s just about who’s doing what at that point in time. If he’s shooting, it would be difficult for him to handle online school, but if I am shooting, he would have to.”

She adds: “According to me, that kind of camaraderie and compatibility is important in a relationship. Often, it’s about women not being able to say no, it’s a societal assumption that there are certain things a woman has to do. Men too assume these things sometimes or expect things to be done in a certain way and we have to move past that.”

“In today’s world a majority of the women work, they have their own careers and when you’re a couple you have to work together constantly to fit your lives into each other’s,” concludes Genelia.

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