Meenakshi Seshadri and filmmaker Rajkumar Santoshi collaborated on hits like Ghayal, Ghatak, and Damini. During Damini, Santoshi proposed her for marriage, but Meenakshi declined. Following this, he removed her from the film. After some controversy, they reached a compromise and completed the shoot. Years later, Meenakshi Seshadri discusses the incident with senior journalist Bharathi S. Pradhan for Lehren Retro.
Category
✨
PeopleTranscript
00:00Damini, you almost didn't do, isn't it?
00:03I mean, you got signed for Damini, but that was one controversy about you that I remember.
00:10And now that your kids have grown up, I am going to say that you were single and everybody liked you very much.
00:19But Rajkumar Santoshi is a director who liked you so much that he came and proposed to you.
00:26He wanted to marry you.
00:28Isn't this true?
00:30He proposed to you.
00:32Yes, this is the truth.
00:35And another truth is that when Damini's controversy happened,
00:40because of which he felt that he would not be able to complete the film with me.
00:46He wanted to take another heroine.
00:48And then there was a reconciliation and the producers' council, the artists' council,
00:52the senior artists' association, everyone got together and celebrated.
00:59That day, we all took a vow that we will not talk about this controversy again.
01:07We will bury it right there and we will make a good film.
01:12And that positivity from their side and from the team's side, from my side,
01:17that we made such a good film with so much dedication.
01:22It's one of your career's best.
01:24My career's best. As a director, for him to leave aside everything else and give his best to the movie,
01:32I will say hats off.
01:35So if Santoshi, of course, now he's also married, his children are grown up,
01:41his daughter even did a film.
01:43So if he offers you a film, will you do it?
01:47Absolutely, I'll jump at it.
01:49You will?
01:50Provided I have a good role.
01:52If the role is good, the film is good, the offer is good, will you do it?
01:57Absolutely.
01:58With Rajkumar Santoshi?
01:59Absolutely.
02:00There won't be any awkwardness, right?
02:03There won't be any awkwardness when we completed Damini together,
02:07when all the fresh news came out.
02:09So now it's all water under the bridge.
02:12So you will do it with him.
02:14Are there any other directors that you're looking forward to working with?
02:18A lot of the women directors, I'll be honest.
02:22And how many are there these days?
02:25A lot?
02:26Yes.
02:27And they're doing a good job.
02:29My feelers are all going that way.
02:32So I don't want to jinx it.
02:35But the vibes are going out.
02:37Vibes are going out.
02:38Like I said, I'm interested in directors who have great command over multiple genres.
02:46Because I just feel that I'm a lot a director's artist.
02:53So for me that will make the world of difference.
02:59So there are a lot of women directors also that you would like to work with?
03:05Yes.
03:06Interesting.
03:07Because I think I'd love to see you working with any good director actually.
03:13Are you talking to Subhash Ghai?
03:17Subhash, he made my day.
03:20I did a reality dance show.
03:24And I got a video message that he would love to make a movie with Jackie or Anil or with me.
03:35So I was like, Subhash, do you really mean it?
03:39So if he does, I will go all out to tell him that I'm ready and willing.
03:46Are you ready if somebody wants you to do an audition?
03:51If somebody asks you to do an audition.
03:54I will happily give an audition.
03:56Really?
03:57Because my vision is that, wow, even though this is not a complete film,
04:04but there will be a camera, lights, direction, dialogues.
04:08It's like a narrow entrance to what can actually develop later on.
04:14Right.
04:15So I will love it.
04:17So were you missing him?
04:20To be honest, the one thing I missed was creativity.
04:28Not the show show.
04:30The show show never influenced me.
04:34Never.
04:35It was there.
04:37I went with it.
04:39But for me, the high, the passion,
04:42it was just my work and connecting with other people who are so creative and talented.
04:49I missed that a lot in the US.
04:52So didn't you miss the make-up, lights, camera?
04:57Or that's part of the creative process?
05:00Yes.
05:01I think magic happens there,
05:06where you get something out of yourself.
05:11Make-up is just an outer veneer.
05:16But the true spark is from within.
05:19That is what I missed.
05:21So you didn't stay here for 28 years.
05:24You were in America.
05:26You gave your full commitment to your family.
05:30Correct?
05:31Yes.
05:32But at that time, did you have time to see what was happening here?
05:36What work was being done here?
05:38What films were being made?
05:40What was coming on OTT?
05:42Did you keep track of that?
05:43Not much.
05:45I had very little time.
05:47You had to do everything.
05:49Yes, all the housework.
05:52From morning to night.
05:54And I had to take care of two kids while my husband was busy with his work.
06:01I was also a dance teacher.
06:06I had a lot of students in my school.
06:10So I only had time for that.
06:14I was completely focused on that.
06:16Like Dronacharya used to ask Arjun,
06:19What did you see?
06:21He didn't say, I saw a tree or a bird.
06:24I only saw the eyes of the bird.
06:27That's what he aimed at.
06:30I did the same.
06:32What is the aim you are looking at now?
06:34The aim now?
06:36I think the aim is that
06:40whatever I have inside me,
06:43whatever I want to express,
06:45as an artist,
06:47I can give a path to all that.
06:50Like small rivers come from the mountains,
06:55then they merge and form a big river and go towards the sea.
06:59Something like that.
07:01So you are completely focused on your career.
07:05Yes, I am.
07:07I am also focused on my family.
07:09But this is a long distance relationship.
07:11You said that the kids have grown up.
07:13They have grown up.
07:15They have their own life.
07:17This step of mine is making a big difference for them.
07:22They are becoming more intelligent,
07:25more powerful.
07:27Their intelligence,
07:29their way of thinking,
07:31they are becoming more mature.
07:34Because mummy is not there for everything.
07:38In fact, they are happy.
07:44In India, it is said that
07:47when kids grow up,
07:49the parent-child relationship does not change.
07:53It remains a parent-child relationship,
07:55even if the child is 40 years old.
07:57My family and I have decided
08:01that it should be
08:03adult to adult
08:05once they are this old.
08:07Not parent to child.