The last time we met, you had told us that your daughter Adira sees your songs on screen and gets excited. Because both teach you to move on in life. One needs to be as much attached to one’s failures as to one’s successes. So, you see, there are different things that have happened in my career which has been my journey, my ups and downs and I own them very proudly. There have been times where I have done a film but I didn’t enjoy working on it, but the film went on to becoming a big hit. I think journeys are interesting when you see the pitfalls, the failures, you learn from your mistakes… whether it was signing a film that didn’t work, or something about the film that you learned from. I think journeys are not only meant to be of successes or always the good things. Given a chance, is there anything you would do differently? I broke the stereotype and did a film like that after being married and having a baby. The third phase came after my marriage when I did Mardaani. They noticed my confidence.Īnd then, after that it would be the time when I signed up for Saathiya, Chalte Chalte, Hum Tum, Black. The focus was on their pairing and that people noticed me in the film was great.Īnd, of course, with ‘Khandala girl’, working with a perfectionist like Aamir (Khan) and people saw that I held my own against him.
I was pitted against them and so for me, to have been able to make a mark in that film was a very big thing as a newcomer. The other was Tina (in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai), opposite Shah Rukh (Khan) and Kajol, who were the true-blue, very famous on-screen pair of the time. One was ‘Khandala girl’ (from the song Aati kya Khandala in Ghulam). and I immediately became a household name through those films. They catapulted me to success, name, fame, whatever you want to call it.
I would say Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Ghulam because those were my two first mainstream films. What are the two films that you believe changed the course of your career? I was quite nervous before that shot, but then when I finally gave the shot, I realised, ‘Oh my God! It flew really naturally through my mouth!’ And that’s when I discovered that okay, maybe this profession is something that I can do without being so scared. And I remember I had to say these lines that ran over a page. It was the set of the house in Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat, which is when I (Mala, played by Rani) get married and go to Shadaab’s (Khan, who played Raj opposite Rani) house. It’s one of those memories that don’t leave you! We were on a little platform, a stage kind of a thing, giving this mahurat shot. It was the mahurat shot and I was wearing this magenta ghagra-choli, with a net dupatta that had golden butis on it… I remember it very very clearly. I was shooting for Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat. What’s the most abiding memory from your first day on set? I hope my next 25 years also go in that same pace.Īmen to that. It feels like a lot, but I guess that’s how fast time flies. So I can say that it’s been a wonderful journey of 25 years. They have stood by me through thick and thin. I made some wonderful fans, loyal fans, who loved me right from my first film and have been with me for so long. I made such wonderful friends in my journey of 25 years. I grew up, I got married, I had my baby, I made such wonderful films. it makes me scared! I think it feels like 25 years only! ( Laughs) That’s because a lot has happened in these 25 years.