Meenakshi Seshadri Got A Marriage Proposal From Her Damini Director ( Photo Credit – YouTube )
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There are very rare times when we hear stories about Bollywood’s unity instead of animosity, and one such time was when actress Meenakshi Seshadri was ousted from her National Award-winning film Damini. Reports suggest it was Rajkumar Santoshi‘s marriage proposal that led to this shocking decision.
However, what happened next was something no one could have imagined. In fact, the actress, in one of her interviews, recalled how the entire Bollywood stood up for her and how she set an example for workplace rules and regulations.
It was in the year 1993 that Damini was being made. Rajkumar Santoshi instantly fell in love with Meenakshi Seshadri and flew off to Kolkata to propose to her. However the actress turned down the offer and Santoshi was so heartbroken that he admitted in an interview, “I was in love with Meenakshi, but she rejected me. I wanted to marry her.”
Recently, in an interview with Zoom, the actress recalled how she was then dropped from Damini, but then it was the industry who supported her. She said, “I was cast and started shooting for a movie called Damini, but there were issues. I was asked to step out of the movie. And other very leading actresses were offered the role instead of me, and they all supported me and said, ‘No. We feel something is very wrong if we accept this proposal. We cannot do it. Either she continues or really sorry, we can’t oblige.’ That was the time when my respect for each of them shot up.”
Reports suggest that it was Yash Chopra and Amjad Khan who intervened as they wanted Damini to be made. Even Meenakshi recalled how she took a stand for herself and professional ethics and rules and said, “Santoshi ji and I decided not to talk about it. It is water under the bridge. But the courage to stand up was important because nobody should be told they aren’t required anymore. It had several implications for rules in the workforce and beyond. I dealt with it by keeping quiet. I just said that I would choose not to comment on this as it is below my dignity to turn this into a fight. This is not a fight.”
Later, Meenakshi got her role back, and she nailed it as Damini. The film also starred Rishi Kapoor and Sunny Deol and won a National Award.
