Even years after its release, the 1998 Mani Ratnam film ‘Dil Se’, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Manisha Koirala, is celebrated by cinephiles. While the film received a lukewarm response upon its release, it has stood the test of time and emerged as a classic, with its music still featuring on netizens’ playlists. As the film celebrates its 26th anniversary, Manisha Koirala reveals why she and SRK never worked together again after their successful pairing in ‘Dil Se’.

In a candid conversation with Zoom, the ‘Heeramandi’ star revealed that after ‘Dil Se’, she and Shah Rukh worked together in a film called ‘Guddu’, but nobody seems to remember it.

Discussing why they didn’t collaborate again, she admitted that she does not have a definitive answer and said, “You will have to ask him (SRK). In this industry, heroes decide whom they want to work with, not heroines.” However, she reiterated that ‘Dil Se’ remains among her best works, alongside Mani Ratnam’s ‘Bombay’ and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Heeramandi’.

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As the conversation progressed, Koirala shared her experience of being an actress in the 90s and recounted an incident with a renowned photographer that has stayed with her to this day. In the early days of her career, Koirala and her mother visited a celebrated photographer for a photo shoot.

 

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While the photographer initially praised her, remarking that she was going to be the next big heroine in Bollywood, he soon asked her to change into a two-piece bikini for the photo shoot. The actress responded, “‘Sir, I wear this when I go to the beach or for a swim, but if this is the way I have to get into the movies, I don’t want it, and I am not wearing that.’ I told him either you shoot me fully clothed or I am… ‘I remember he gave me a big lecture. He said, ‘Jo mitti pighalne se sharmati ho uske murti kaise banaye’ (The clay that refuses to melt, how do I make a statue from it?). I have not forgotten that.”

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Reflecting on the 90s, the ‘Mann’ star also recounted an incident from the time she was shooting for ‘Saudagar’. She recalled mixing coke with vodka and receiving advice from those around her to avoid mentioning the vodka, since actresses weren’t supposed to drink alcohol. They asked her to say she was drinking coke. “I learned something new. I told my mom, ‘I am drinking coke,’ and she knew I had vodka in it. She said, ‘Listen, if you are drinking vodka, say you are drinking vodka. Don’t lie for such small things. If I was dating somebody, I am dating somebody. You want to judge me? Go ahead and judge me, but that’s me, and I live my life on my own terms.’”

Manisha Koirala boasts an impressive repertoire, including several hits like ‘Saudagar’, ‘1942: A Love Story’, ‘Akele Hum Akele Tum’, ‘Dil Se’, ‘Lajja’, and ‘Company’, among others.