Popular television presenter-cum-actor, Mandira Bedi got immense recognition with her stint in the show, Shanti, in 1994. However, she landed the role pretty unexpectedly. Recently, in a candid conversation, she revealed the same and many other anecdotes from the initial days of her journey. She also opened up about her experience working in the Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol-starrer film, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.
In an interview with Curly Tales, Mandira Bedi revealed that acting was not something, she had ever imagined or wanted to happen. Elaborating on the same, the diva mentioned that earlier, she tried to walk in her banker brother's footsteps post-graduation by getting admission into an MBA. However, she was unable to do so, so she enrolled in a media communication course at Sophia College. Afterwards, when she was interning with Prahlad Kakkar's advertising agency, the director-producer of the show, Shanti, had come there to get an ad film made.
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There, Mandira was approached for the casting in the show, Shanti, and this is how, she got her first big break in the acting field. She added that although she assured Prahlad Kakkar that she would return to her work when she began getting acting offers, but never took that step further. Here, she got the first paycheque of her life, which was around Rs 30,000. Revealing what she did with that money, the actress shared:
“I used to intern every semester, but the one with Prahlad was my last. My first pay cheque was when I did Shanti. I used to get paid 30,000 per month. I was like, ‘I have never seen so much money before’. I could be working 10 days in that month, or 25, didn’t matter, my salary for the month was Rs 30,000. The first cheque came to me was that of Rs 15,000, because we started to work from the 15th of the month, so it was half month salary. And I remember, I took that cheque, I deposited in the bank and I took presents for everyone. My first pay cheque, I need to buy something for everybody.”
In the same conversation, Mandira also talked about her experience of working in the all-time favourite movie, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, just after being part of Shanti. For the unversed, Mandira was seen in the role of 'Preeti' in the 1955 film, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, co-starring Kajol and Shah Rukh Khan. However, the two subsequent roles being offered to her were completely different. Thus, she found it quite unacceptable at the beginning.
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Mandira recalled that the song, Mehendi Laga Ke Rakhna, was the first shot when she started filming the movie. However, she lacked the womanly gestures which were required by her role. Thus, despite spending four days filming the song, she felt the experience quite horrifying. She said:
“I remember Saroj Khan telling me, ‘You are shaking your shoulder like Sunny Deol, you need to shake your hips, women shake their hips, men shake their shoulders’. So I was like, ‘okay, this is not a good start’. And I have very little grace in me. I can lift weights and I can run miles, but I don’t have adayein. Woh adayein mujh mein bilkul bhi nahi hai. It was a little horrifying for me. Four days, where I am asked to do things I have never done before. Move parts of my body which I have never moved before so let me tell you it wasn’t fun and I was like ‘what have I got myself into?’ With Shanti, I was giving this hard strong looks, but with Preeti I was made to do many things I have never done before.”
What do you think about Mandira's revelations regarding the early days of her career? Let us know!
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