Rohini Hattangadi says she played mom to Amitabh Bachchan, Jeetendra, Mithun who were older to her; was told she won’t get work if she refuses such parts

Hattangadi said she had once opened up about he situation with filmmaker Basu Bhattacharya and had told him how everyone only offers her the role of a mother. “He told me, ‘So who else will they give it to?’ I told him, ‘What? Why should I play mother roles?’ Then he said, ‘Tum samajti nahi ho. You and Sanjeev Kumar are two actors people can rely on for older roles. Baaki kaun hai old roles karne waala? Nobody dares to look older.'”

The actor said she had decided to not do roles of a mother, even if it came at the cost of no film work coming her way. Things, however, changed when Mukul Anand’s Agneepath came her way, where she had to play Amitabh Bachchan’s mother.

“Before Agneepath, I had decided that I will not do mother roles. I had refused three-four films. My secretary would tell me, ‘Rohini ji you are saying no to everything, please don’t do this, no one will come to you.’ I was like, at least give me negative roles, why am I always only offered positive parts, where I’d say something like, ‘Beta gajar ka halwa khaa, maine apne haatho se banaya hai.’

“Then when Agneepath’s offer came, I said I will first listen to the story and then take a call. Halfway through the story narration, I said I will do the film. There was another film of Mukul ji before Agneepath that I had turned down, so he asked me, ‘Ok, so now you are ready to play mother on screen?’ I told him the reason why I said yes to the film was because in Amitabh ji’s film, him, the heroine and the villain are prominently seen. But here, everyone is visible, from the commissioner to the pathaan, to the sister.”