Anu Aggarwal remembers Rekha’s compliment, reveals why she refused to go under the knife after near-fatal accident: ‘You have a face that all of us get through make-up’

 

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But after doing a few films, Anu was pulling back already. She says, “I’ve always been a strong, socially conscious person, and the kind of films that were being made, especially when it comes to the portrayal of women, I didn’t agree with them.”

Anu strongly wanted to be a part of films that portrayed women better, but the industry was not ready for it then. She says, “The fact is that it is always a two-way street between whatever is the social milieu and the entertainment business. Films are based on what the society is going through or wants or is ready to accept. The kind of films that are made and the roles actors play influence the normal person. The portrayal of women in today’s society has really grown from what it used to be 30 years ago.”

When asked if she thinks she was ahead of her time, and if it worked against her, she says, “I’ve definitely been. When I went to Cannes in the 90s, people asked ‘Cannes kya cheeze hoti hai?’. I’ve been a forward looking girl. And I believe how the whole society works is two fold, ‘jitna acchha hota hai, utna buraa bhi hota hai‘. I could have been this totally different girl doing movies, but what happened is that it affected my personal relationship very negatively.”

Opening up about how it affected her personal life, she shares, “It got a real beating. I was in a live-in (relationship) with him and it was considered unacceptable. His mother lived with us too, and she was very open, she accepted me. But then her friends started saying, ‘Anu is this and Anu is that…’, things were written about me in the press and magazines and people believed it. I didn’t have any means to protect myself, there was no social media at the time, I didn’t have a voice. It destroyed my personal life but if we talk about my working life, it boomed with the personality that I have.”

 

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“But after that I went on to do a lot of things, I became a doctor in naturopathy, I did several Ted talks, but people remember me as a ‘glam doll’ Anu. No matter what I do, because that’s what makes news,” she adds.

Anu also spoke about her almost fatal accident and how she was told to go under the knife if she wanted to continue working. She also remembered how Rekha gave her one of the best compliments of her life.

“I remember, after Aashiqui came and we became popular, we did a lot of tours in several parts of the country and in the UK and US. Rekha was also a part of one such tour. I had never met Rekha before, and as far as I’m concerned, she’s my senior. Her assistant came and told me ‘Rekha ji wants to see you’. I’ll never forget this, it was a room with mirrors and she was sitting and getting her make-up done. She and smiled at me and said, ‘you have got a face that we all make through make-up.’ I was just like ‘wow’, I didn’t know how to say thank you or react to that kind of a compliment.”

 

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She then talks about how the tide turned and she took things in her stride without going under the knife .

“I’d never go under the knife. Even after my accident, people told me that I’d need to go under a knife if I want to continue working. But if you accept yourself for what you are, you don’t need surgery. It is your belief in yourself that will take you ahead in life. The entire thing of going under the knife is a trend, don’t you see that? Actors are told ‘yeh karna hi padega…‘ people told me to do it after my accident. I had facial paralysis, I plainly said I’m not going to do it. I knew my face would have a structure with the power of my mind, that’s how I healed, but that was possible because I believed in myself.”

Anu is raring to come back and she says that people are approaching her with scripts, “but it’s nothing she can talk about.” On being asked how she feels about Aashiqui becoming a successful franchise, she says, “Nobody knew Aashiqui would become so big, Mahesh (Bhatt) was an art film director at the time. Nobody expected it. I hear Aashiqui 2 is nothing like Aashiqui, they only used the title. Now Aashiqui 3 is coming, but I’m the original Aashiqui (laughs). Aashiqui is like my baby. If there is something really interesting for me to do, I’d really like to be a part of Aashiqui 3 in some way.”