Mita Vashisht accuses Mani Ratnam of favouring Manisha Koirala: ‘She didn’t do her homework, was only concerned about her pretty face’

Mita Vashisht, known for her role in Drohkaal, confessed to initial disillusionment, stating that she was initially misled about the scale of her character. “They never told us the script before but Mani Ratam was like God. He told me my role in the film was bigger than Drohkaal. It was a film I got an award for. They didn’t divulge anything about anyone’s role except for Shah Rukh,” she shared.

ALSO READ Mita Vashisht recalls having a premonition about Irrfan Khan’s death, speaking to him in her dream: ‘Yeh jaane wala hai, ek-do in mein…’

A particularly disappointing incident involved a scene with Manisha Koirala where Vashisht’s physicality was integral to the shot’s impact. But then, Mani Ratnam intervened, demanding that she be fully covered which made her feel like her “hard work was overshadowed”.

“There is a scene where I am helping Manisha wear a bomb vest. In that scene, Manisha’s body is bare but I am wearing full-sleeved clothes. Originally, the scene wasn’t written like that, shared the Swabhimaan actor, revealing that in the first take, she was wearing a bomb jacket and nothing underneath it. “And I was supposed to help Manisha’s character wear a similar jacket. Hum dono ka sharir ek tarah se nagn hai (In some way, we are semi naked) and Manisha’s character’s becomes vulnerable. When Santosh Sivan gave okay to the shot, Mani Ratnam called the costume designer Piya. Piya called me and said, ‘Mita, I have to give you a T-Shirt.’ I then hear Mani Ratnam shout, ‘Not T-Shirt, give her full-sleeved clothes that will fully cover her.’ I then I realised that my biceps and my body was overshadowing Manisha. She is a pretty face and she didn’t focus on training for the physicality. Her character was a militant but she didn’t work hard enough on her body to look like the part,” she rued.

The actor said she didn’t feel bad at that time because before that shot, she shot a gruelling 6-minute hand battle scene with Shah Rukh Khan. Mita Vashisht lauded SRK’s professionalism and support, recalling their intense fight sequence. “Shah Rukh is an amazing co-star. Mani sir had earlier called me and explained the scene beautifully. He old me to fight like a wounded tigress who attacks a lion stressing that there should be sexual tension and sensuousness between them,” she recalled.

Vashisht recalled SRK being  “very sensitive” as he kept his hand behind her head to protect her while he pushed her against the rock. Speaking further about him, the actor revealed that when she reached the shoot location, Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi, Shah Rukh was facing his back towards the crowd. When she asked him why he was standing with his back towards the crowd, he said that was a problem and before the shot, he turned towards the crowd and everyone went crazy. She even revealed that he got hurt on the head during the shoot but was calm and supportive. “I told him that we don’t have to let go of each other’s bodies during the fight sequence. We did the scene and it was brilliant. During the scene, I hit him on the head with a stone. He was wounded and bled but he was very sweet and supportive,” she recalled.

However, the actor’s disappointment resurfaced when she learned the intense fight sequence was edited out, calling it a decision which seemed to favour the film’s leading lady. “When we finally went for dubbing, Mani Ratnam revealed that the scene was cut in the film. Maybe they didn’t want to show a Bollywood hero being vulnerable but I know what he was trying to do. He was trying to cover up for his heroine. She should’ve done her homework better no? He should’ve told her to go to the gym and lose some weight,” she concluded.