Vidhu Vinod Chopra told Manisha Koirala she ‘can’t act’, put pressure on her to live up to Jackie Shroff and Anil Kapoor’s stardom in 1942 A Love Story

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Manisha shared that the experience ingrained the importance of hard work in her. “When we were doing the script reading at Vinod’s house, he kept on saying that I have to look perfect and beautiful because the audience has to believe that two of the biggest superstars — Anil Kapoor and Jackie Shroff — were falling in love with me onscreen. He was repeatedly saying that the audience shouldn’t feel cheated,” said Manisha, who revealed that it was undoubtedly a lot of pressure. “I was too young, naive, and didn’t have a film background. Somehow, I navigated through it all.”

The Dil Se actor also spoke about how these sessions at Vinod’s house ensured she developed fond bonds with a lot of people who worked on 1942 A Love Story. “There was Binod Pradhan (cinematographer), Renu Saluja (editor), and a lot of Vinod’s assistants. We’d all just sit, talk, and bond. But yeah, Vinod had strict instructions about my sleep pattern. I had to wake up and 4, and call it a day by 8. I believe he guided me a lot in my career.” 

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Manisha Koirala was recently seen on the big screen in Kartik Aaryan’s Shehzaada, a remake of the Telugu blockbuster, Ala Vaikunthapurramulo. She stepped into the shoes of Tabu from the original. She was also part of the recent Netflix series, Heeramandi, which was directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.