Kajol couldn’t stop laughing during Shilpa Shetty’s death scene in Baazigar, Abbas-Mustan asked her to think of sister Tanishaa

Baazigar directors, Abbas-Mustan, recall casting Kajol and Shilpa Shetty when both of them were 17. Their parents had to sign contracts as both of them were minors.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | Updated: May 19, 2024 11:16 AM IST

4 min read

Kajol and Shilpa Shetty were only 17 when they were cast in Baazigar.

Abbas-Mustan’s Baazigar was a significant film in the careers of Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, and Shilpa Shetty, who were just starting out, marking a turning point for each of them in various ways. The film is among SRK’s early breakthrough roles and is often considered a landmark film in his career. While Baazigar, which clocked 30 years in 2023, marked Kajol’s (Priya) entry into mainstream Hindi cinema and proved to be a breakthrough moment in her career, it was also Shilpa’s debut in Hindi cinema. Despite limited screen time, she made a notable impression with her portrayal of Priya’s sister, Seema Chopra. During a recent interaction with Radio Nasha Official, Abbas-Mustan spilled beans from the film’s set and revealed that both Kajol and Shilpa were merely 17 when they signed the film.

“In one of the scenes, when Shilpa’s character is pushed and falls off the terrace and dies, Kajol is supposed to cry, and SRK consoles her and takes her back into the car. However, when she saw Shilpa lying on the ground, she couldn’t control her laughter. She was just 17, and I think she didn’t understand the scene,” recalled Mustan. However, Abbas quickly interjected, “I don’t think it was because of her age. When she saw Shilpa lying with her eyes open, she burst into laughter. She said, ‘She is supposed to be dead but her eyes are open, how can I bring out the emotions,” shared Abbas.

The duo then arranged for a four-camera set-up and called Kajol aside to explain the importance of the scene. “We called her and told her, ‘Imagine the dead girl lying on the ground is your younger sister, Tanishaa. What would you do if you saw your real sister in a pool of blood?’ She immediately started crying. She continued to sob even after sitting in the car. We did the shot in just one take, and whatever she did in the scene was natural,” the duo narrated in unison.

“We wanted girls like Kajol and Shilpa for their respective roles. When we signed Kajol, Bekhudi had not been released. They were still shooting for it,” they recalled. When they met Kajol at her place, she was writing something. “When we saw her perform in the film, she looked like a child. She was very natural and didn’t trouble us on the sets,” said Mustan, adding, “We wanted someone new, and Shilpa was the perfect fit for the role. Both these girls were 17 and minors, and their parents had to sign the film’s contract on their behalf.”

In an earlier interview with Reddif.com, the directors said that Shilpa came through Venus. “They told us there was a girl who wanted to act in films, so we met her and liked her. We wanted a girl who did not have any image; we wanted a fresh face. If it was a bigger star and Shah Rukh would throw her off the terrace, people would start sympathising with her, and the whole film would be about that track. We didn’t want that to happen,” they shared.

Praising the two actors for delivering powerful performances, Abbas said, “We were tensed, as we were not sure if they would be able to pull off the characters. We were worried whether they would understand the scenes. But once they understood the scene, they went with the flow.”

From the homepage