The birthday girl, Rani Mukerji, who turns 40 today, tells it just the way she sees it, believes it… “I am the number 1 in my own game. I should continue to believe in that, because if I don’t then I am going to get stagnant in my career.”  It’s this desire to keep competing with herself, to keep learning and finding new ways of innovating, that drives this actress, among the Hindi film screen’s finest.

Staying relevant, daring to be different is her mantra. “The day innovation goes away from my life, I will lose the audience,” she believes. Rani goes so far as to declare that the end for an actor comes when s/he thinks she has achieved it all.

Even as she gives daughter Adira the bulk of her time and attention, Rani is ever watchful of falling into the trap of stagnating as an artiste. This is a quality she has embodied right from the start of her career, post which she has sprung one surprise after the other, leaving the audience guessing about just what she would next come up with on the screen.

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One motif though runs through the pattern of her career – her penchant for strong roles. “I have always been attracted to strong women-oriented roles,” she has admitted. “Right from my first film Raja Ki Aayegi Baaraat to say Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Hey Ram, Yuva, Hum Tum, Saathiya, Bunty aur Babli, Black… every role has been powerful and has a message for women in some way or the other. It was not a conscious decision to do films like that, but when I am reading a script I relate to strong characters, which attract me more than soft ones. I think that has worked for me. Going forward, it will always be a part of me.”

Not surprisingly, she identifies with many of her characters. She finds resonance with Rhea Prakash in Hum Tum, because she was a modern-thinking girl. “The scene with Saif at the church, was the clincher. When she asks Saif, 'Do you want to marry me just because we spent the night together? We don't have to be married for that reason',” is one she is particularly fond of.

Similarly, she declares that she loves Michelle from Black “because she says that nothing is impossible. That is the spirit. I might go through a bad time, through career lows, flops etc, but there is nothing in this world that you cannot achieve and you always have to be with that thought.”

Her character from No One Killed Jessica, she describes, as a go-getter. “I identify with that determination, grit, passion and enthusiasm to go about your career. I don't believe that it is difficult for women to handle careers once they get married or have children. Look around, from journalists to cops, all women have families and children and nothing is stopping them from achieving their goals. The time has gone where women gave up everything once they get married. And the good part is that the men have got more independent in their way of thinking. They don't respect women who just sit at home and belo rotis.”

Set to come back to the screen after a long hiatus with Hichki, again Rani returns with something we have never seen before – a school teacher with Tourette Syndrome. It is a neurological disorder that is characterised by repetitive, involuntary movements and vocalisations.

She declares, “Hichki is a very special film that connected with my soul, and [through it] I would like to tell the world [of] the kind of brave films India is churning. It’s a very special film about overcoming one’s weakness and turning them into strength. It also talks about the education system in our country and the discrimination that people face from society.”

She shares, “When we were young we used to feel that life is over at 40 but today life starts at 40…My life has just begun. Also, my new career has begun and I feel like a newcomer. I am raring to go!”