Ranjeet recalls Madhuri Dixit was sobbing after a molestation scene with him in Prem Pratigya: ‘My image was of a crude villain’

Veteran actor Ranjeet, who has worked in over 500 films since 1970, often recalls an incident with actress Madhuri Dixit, who refused to work with him in their 1989 film Prem Pratigya. Ranjeet was known for his villainous roles and mostly did molestation scenes in his various films. He was expected to do something similar in the Bapu directorial. Madhuri, who had just completed five years in the industry, was frightened and cried profusely when she was told do a scene with the actor.

In a recent interview with Vickey Lalwani, Ranjeet recalled the incident and said, “Prem Pratigya was the name of the film, Madhuri was new then. My image had been created as ‘ruthless killer, crude villain’. Girls and boys would fear me. Madhuri had heard about me, and she was panicking. We had a molestation scene together. Veeru Devgn was our fight master. The scene was that I had to molest her on a handcart. I was in rush for my other shoot and had no idea about her situation on set. I came to know about Madhuri later.”

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He added, “I realised she was crying. Then they consoled her, told her, ‘I was a good man’. Ultimately, she agreed to give the shot. Now, when we were giving the shot, I used to be very co-operative with my fellow artists. After the scene was cut, people clapped. She was sobbing, producer and others rushed to her and asked her, ‘Are you okay?’ She said, ‘I never realised anything. He never even touched me.'”

Ranjeet shared that he never touched her during the scene, and simply tortured her by moving her around in the handcart. He said, “She herself told that I never touched her on a television show.”

After Prem Pratigya, Madhur Dixit and Ranjeet collaborated on films like Kishen Kanhaiya (1990) and Koyla (1997).