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Renowned television presenter Mandira Bedi, who first gained recognition in 1994 with her show ‘Shanti’, recently disclosed how she got her first acting job in Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol-starrer ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ even though acting wasn’t even on her mind. Mandira also shared an anecdote from the sets of the film. “Let me tell you it wasn’t fun”, Mandira stated in a recent interview.
In an interview with Curly Tales, Mandira Bedi talked about how she was cast in ‘Shanti’.She said that she intended to follow her older brother’s footsteps, who was a banker and had completed his MBA, but she was unable to do so, so she enrolled in a media communication course at Sophia College. She began working as an intern at advertising agencies there and eventually got a position in Prahlad Kakkar‘s office. She had her first big break in the TV series Shanti during her tenure there.
She added, “It was not something I ever imagined would happen or wanted to happen. I was this junior most intern and ‘go for’– go for this, go for that, clean this, wipe that, so I was that. The director and producer of the show Shanti had come to Prahlad Kakkar to get an ad film made and he saw me there. I don’t know what he saw in me.”
Mandira shared that she also landed a job in advertising, as that was her planned field of work upon graduation. She assured her boss that she would return to her work when she began receiving acting offers, but that never materialized.
She revealed her first pay cheque was Rs 30,000. 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 1995, Mandira featured in the film ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ where she played the role of Preeti. Mandira recalled that the song ‘Mehendi Laga Ke Rakhna’ was the first shot during her time filming the movie. She shared, “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.”
She revealed that she spent four days filming the song and that it was an entirely different experience than ‘Shanti’. “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,” she said.
In an interview with Curly Tales, Mandira Bedi talked about how she was cast in ‘Shanti’.She said that she intended to follow her older brother’s footsteps, who was a banker and had completed his MBA, but she was unable to do so, so she enrolled in a media communication course at Sophia College. She began working as an intern at advertising agencies there and eventually got a position in Prahlad Kakkar‘s office. She had her first big break in the TV series Shanti during her tenure there.
She added, “It was not something I ever imagined would happen or wanted to happen. I was this junior most intern and ‘go for’– go for this, go for that, clean this, wipe that, so I was that. The director and producer of the show Shanti had come to Prahlad Kakkar to get an ad film made and he saw me there. I don’t know what he saw in me.”
Mandira shared that she also landed a job in advertising, as that was her planned field of work upon graduation. She assured her boss that she would return to her work when she began receiving acting offers, but that never materialized.
She revealed her first pay cheque was Rs 30,000. 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 1995, Mandira featured in the film ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ where she played the role of Preeti. Mandira recalled that the song ‘Mehendi Laga Ke Rakhna’ was the first shot during her time filming the movie. She shared, “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.”
She revealed that she spent four days filming the song and that it was an entirely different experience than ‘Shanti’. “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,” she said.
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