Sonali Kulkarni, who played Hrithik Roshan’s foster mother in the 2000 film Mission Kashmir directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, shared her experience of working with the actor when he was still new to the industry. Sonali, who was 25 at the time, mentioned she didn’t even realize initially that she would be playing Hrithik’s mother on screen.
Speaking with Siddharth Kannan, Sonali discussed how she had no reservations about portraying Hrithik’s mother, Neelima, but was more concerned about playing Sanjay Dutt’s wife due to their height difference.She explained that her focus was on acting and taking on different characters. Sonali recalled receiving a call from Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s office about auditioning for the role of Sanjay Dutt’s wife, which made her nervous because she thought she would be rejected for being much shorter than Sanjay. However, she did not realize at the time that she would also be playing Hrithik’s foster mother in the film.
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During her audition, Sonali met Hrithik, who introduced himself as “Hrithik Roshan, son of Rakesh Roshan,” and described himself as a struggler just starting his journey with Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai. Sonali replied that she too was a struggler, and they wished each other luck. By the time they reunited for the film, Hrithik had already become a massive star after the success of Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai.
Sonali fondly remembered how they both supported each other during their early days in the industry and how Hrithik’s career had skyrocketed by the time they started working on Mission Kashmir.