Mahima Chaudhry reveals Pardes director Subhash Ghai made her ‘cry’: ‘People used to shout, abuse loudly on set’

Actor Mahima Chaudhry recently recalled getting scolded by directors on the sets of her early films, including debut movie Pardes, directed by Subhash Ghai.

Mahima Chaudhry reveals Pardes director Subhash Ghai made her 'cry' mid-shoot

Mahima Chaudhry marked her Bollywood debut opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Subhash Ghai’s Pardes. In a recent interview, the actor revealed that the director once scolded her before a scene and even made her cry, which eventually turned out to be her best shot. While the incident was a learning curve, her second film Daag with director Raj Kanwar did not leave the same impact. Calling it ‘bad behaviour’, Mahima recalled how directors used to shout and use abusive language on the sets during her early films.

During a conversation with Siddharth Kannan, she was questioned about facing negativity on film sets. “It has happened many times. People used to shout loudly on the mic, including abusive language, it was nonsense. I remember that someone was shouting like this, a male actor asked me if I was aware he is trying to indirectly say it to us,” Mahima said.

The actor added, “I told him yes. He said that your facial expressions don’t look like you are understanding that indication. So, you have to pretend that you don’t understand. Now, they don’t have the audacity because there are cameras everywhere and people will see their bad behaviour in 30 seconds. But earlier, there was a lot of poor behaviour and negativity. There was even groupism. This happened in the beginning of my second film.”

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Mahima Chaudhry revealed that speaking in English language became her defense mechanism to escape such tricky situations. “They were saying to other people, ‘Tum log kyu nahi samajhte? (Why don’t you understand),’ but I know it was meant for me. If they are not attacking you directly, you pretend you don’t understand. I used to talk in English intentionally and ask, ‘Excuse me, did you just say that I have to step here and do this scene?’ I felt that they would say a lot to me in Hindi, but with English, they would take time to say. This was my defense mechanism.”

When asked if it was easy to focus on the scene after listening to such abusive language, Mahima agreed and recalled another incident on the sets of Pardes, when Subhash Ghai scolded her before a shot. “It sometimes helps when you get scolded by someone. It happened with me during my first film. Subhash ji scolded me badly once and then I did the phone scene, that’s the one everyone liked,” she shared.

She continued, “He made me cry in a way. You had to cry in that scene and you have been already crying, your voice is like that, so it’s fantastic, it helped. It was different in the first film obviously, but the second film that I am talking about, that wasn’t a very good experience.”

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On the work front, Mahima Chaudhry is busy promoting her upcoming rom-com drama Durlabh Prasad Ki Dusri Shadi currently, co-starring Sanjay Mishra. It is set to hit the big screen on December 19. The actor was last seen in the Netflix release Nadaaniyan, with Khushi Kapoor and Ibrahim Ali Khan in the lead roles.

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