Biografia

When Rati married businessman and architect Anil Virwani in February 1985, she gave up films for 16 years and came back after her teenage son Tanuj encouraged her to do so.

She is Punjabi but settled in Madras, Tamil Nadu when she was a teenager because her father's job took them there.

When Rati was just 16 years old, director Bharati Raja saw her in a school play and cast her as the heroine in the Tamil film "Pudhiya Varpukkal" (1979), which made her an overnight star in South Indian films.

She didn't know the Tamil language, so her leading man on her first film, Bhagyaraj, wrote the dialogues for her in Hindi and would explain them to her in English, and she spoke the lines in Tamil. She quickly learned the language and can now speak in near perfect Tamil, and later Telugu and Kannada as well.

After doing South Indian films (Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada), she became a star in Hindi films with her first Hindi film "Ek Duje Ke Liye" (1981), which ironically, was a remake of a Telugu blockbuster "Maro Charitra" (1979) starring a different heroine (Saritha) but same director (K. Balachander), hero (Kamal Hassan), supporting actress (Madhavi).

I am a Tamilian at heart, a Punjabi by default.

Her reaction when director Bharati Raja offered her the heroine role in her first film: "Well, I was so excited... what else will a 16-year-old girl be if she is approached by the topmost director of the time for his film? I was ecstatic! For me, it was a big picnic! The film became a blockbuster in 1979, one thing led to another and I worked in 32 films in three years!"

When asked what she did after she left films for 15 years: "When Tanuj was born, he occupied most of my time and attention. But I have always been active in something creative. All these candles you see all over the house are designed and created by me. I paint a lot and do stained glass. I look into the aesthetic aspects of [husband] Anil's constructions, like, after a building is ready, I help in designing the foyers and the landscaping. I have always been very fond of creating things -- I even do sculptures from rocks. I make my own dry flowers too."

I am very organised. I think it is a birth defect. I cannot be haphazard even if I try!

When asked which are her best Hindi films: "Starting with Ek Duje Ke Liye, which is more than apparent! Then Tawaif, Shubkamana, Mujhe Insaaf Chahiye and Shaukeen - which I really enjoyed doing and I think it was one of my better films as I have good memories of the same. Then Coolie, Mazdoor and perhaps a few more."