I just wanted to get married and raise a family so that's what I did.Īny regrets? There must have been a lot of offers after the release of MPK too. But at that time I was barely 19 I did not understand that people strive their entire life to achieve what God had blessed me with, right in my first film.
When I go out and people recognise me even after 30 years, I feel blessed. When I look back, I realise that I hadn't even processed the success of MPK properly. For me, life was about marriage and raising a family. My parents made sure we saw the world and travelled extensively but human interaction was kept to a bare minimum. You got married and acted in two films with husband Himalaya Dassani. Suman was born from me and I took a lot from Suman.let's put it that way.Ĭut to 1990. I imbibed her and in turn, she imbibed me. How much of Bhagyashree was there in Suman?Ī lot. He would then rehearse with him (laughs). He would complain to Soorajji saying she has gone away and Soorajji would assure him saying I didn't need a rehearsal. He had particularly asked me not to rehearse because he wanted me to be the way I was-absolutely raw. On the first couple of days, Soorajji would tell me my position in the frame and ask me to interpret Suman my way. You know, it was just the opposite! I would always take what Soorajji said as the last word. You seem like someone who would not mind retakes till you get it right while Salman seems the opposite. We were all so raw there was no pretense. So, it was like going to college and we became buddies, which was beautiful. Though Salman had done a film this was his first as a hero. It was a debut venture for all three of us-Salman, Soorajji, and me. While I didn’t know how success would be measured but since everyone was working with such dedication, I was sure that God would reward us for it. Did you feel the same?Įveryone had such positive energy on the set and each one of us was putting in hard work. Mohnish Bahl recently told ETimes that he had doubts about the success of the film. I rubbished it, pointing out I was doing it only at his behest, but then MPK came my way (smiles). The next time I met Amol uncle on the set, I had a lot of questions for him, and he said he was sure I would become a heroine someday. "You don't know, maybe sometime in the future you would like to experiment with it,” he had said, telling me that someone's money was involved in the project and that I should respect that. He told me that since I had agreed to help him out, I must put my heart and soul into it and learn the craft. I gave my nod thinking I was only helping him but after he left, my dad sat me down and explained the situation. When I told him I knew nothing about acting, he told me to be my usual self. The actress he had finalised had run away with her boyfriend last minute and since a set had already been erected in Nataraj Studio, shooting had to begin at once. One day, just before the shoot of the show was set to commence, he came to me in a panic, asking me to help him out. In fact, in all of my school plays I had played a tree because I was petrified of facing the audience.īut you had done 'Kachchi Dhoop' before 'Maine Pyar Kiya.'Īmol uncle (Palekar, actor) was my neighbour and his daughter and my younger sister were good friends. But during the course of filming, I fell in love with the profession, which I had never even considered as a career option.
To be honest, in my heart I always felt it was a lovely story and each time I sent him back, I would feel sad. If he had gone to Sridevi or Madhuri Dixit and got a 'no' in response, it would be understandable but I was a newbie who no one knew about. But on the eighth time, I couldn't make one up and gave my nod to the film. He returned to me seven times, with changes in the script to please me, and each time I would come up with a new excuse. But, at the end of it, when he wanted to know if I would do the film, I told him that despite liking the script, I wouldn't be able to take it up. The subject was beautiful and I liked what he narrated to me. I actually told Soorajji ( Sooraj Barjatya) that I didn’t want to work in films, a fact he couldn't understand.