Manisha Koirala, one of Bollywood’s most loved actresses, opened up about her early struggles in the film industry, particularly during the shooting of ‘
1942: A Love Story
. ‘ The actress spoke about the challenges she faced during the making of the film.
Despite the film becoming a big success and winning hearts, her journey wasn’t easy. Early in her career, Manisha had to work hard to meet the high expectations of director Vidhu Vinod Chopra.
In an interview, the Heeramandi actress recalled her early struggles on set and shared how she used to get scolded by Chopra during her first screen test, who even told her that she “couldn’t act.”
“I had never done something like this. At that time, this project was massive. And I got scolded during my first screen test. Vinod had told me that you don’t know how to act. So I worked very hard and requested him to give me one more chance. So he did. I got it with a lot of hard work. And I had understood that during this entire thing, I could not slack. I have to figure it out and I have to do my best. I got to know about this during the screen test. We used to do a script reading at Vinod’s place,” Manisha shared.
Koirala also remembered the pressure she felt, with two of the biggest stars of the time, Anil Kapoor and Jackie Shroff, acting alongside her.
“Vinod used to tell me, ‘Look, Manisha, both the superstars are in love with you in the film. So you better do everything to look beautiful. No matter what you do, I don’t know, but you have to look perfect. It shouldn’t feel like I’m lying as a director. The audience shouldn’t feel cheated,'” she said.
Koirala admitted that being new to the industry, she didn’t understand much at the time, but Chopra’s support and guidance helped her get through it.
“But somehow I got the gist, somehow I understood that this is like a serious business. And I had no idea. I was too young, and I was too naive. I was not from a film background. So I did not know much, but somehow I navigated and figured it out,” she said.
“There were strict instructions from Vinod that I have to wake up at 4 am and sleep around 7-8 pm. The whole environment was created like that. He has supported me and guided me a lot,” Manisha added.
Manisha Koirala was last seen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s web show ‘Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar’. The show also starred Richa Chadha, Sanjeeda Shaikh, Aditi Rao Hydari, Fardeen Khan, Shekhar Suman, and Taha Shah Badussha.
