In an exclusive interview with senior most journalist Bharathi S Pradhan for Lehren, Madhoo reveals the unheard story of bagging her magical debut in Kuku Kohli's Phool Aur Kaante (1991) movie alongside Ajay Devgn. #madhoo #madhooshah #phoolaurkaante #ajaydevgn #kukukohli #hemamalini #madhoopodcast
00:00So I didn't see myself that I could become an actor
00:04And then I became an actor
00:06So I always say that I didn't become an actor
00:09Or I didn't have a career because of me
00:11I had a career in spite of me
00:13And then when the shoot started
00:15They thought that I wasn't ready
00:17And then they replaced me with another artist
00:21So after shooting, they replaced me
00:24Yes, after 3-4 days
00:27Then I realized that I wasn't in that film
00:30I came from a place of such a not good feeling
00:33When I went to the set
00:35Neither did Ajay Devgan
00:36Neither did I see Amrish Puri
00:38Neither did I see Aruna Irani Ji
00:40Neither did I appreciate Nadeem Shravan's tune
00:43I didn't see anything
00:47I met you in 1991 when Poole and Kante came
00:51You and Ajay Devgan
00:53Both of you were the first film
00:55For both of you
00:57And it was wonderful
00:58Such a big hit
00:59Yes
01:00And it was really nice meeting you there Yuro
01:03How did you get that film?
01:05You know this is an easy question actually
01:09And it is a very magical and difficult question
01:14How is it?
01:16Because when I thought about myself
01:18What was it?
01:19What was it?
01:20I could say that I didn't plan
01:24How did you plan your life?
01:26How did you plan your life?
01:27Or how did you plan your launch?
01:29I had a dream that I was going to be an actor
01:34When I was 5 years old or 6 or 8 years old
01:37It is the dream that I will become an actor or an actress.
01:42When I was 13 or 14 years old, my mother was off.
01:49She was gone.
01:51You were only 12 or 13?
01:54I was only 13.
01:56It was the dream that I will become an actor.
01:59After that, it was the dream that I will become an actor.
02:04In that sense, I did not see myself as an actor.
02:08In my teenage years, it was not good.
02:13It was not the criteria for becoming an actor.
02:18I did not see myself as an actor.
02:21When I saw myself in the mirror, I saw pimples.
02:25I was a sporty girl.
02:27I was always playing outside.
02:29Cricket etc.
02:31At that age, I had a little weight.
02:35I was chubby.
02:37I did not see myself as an actor.
02:42Then I became an actor.
02:45I always say that I did not become an actor.
02:48I did not have a career because of me.
02:51I had a career in spite of me.
02:54But how did I get it?
02:56It happened that my father became a producer.
02:59Because he became a single parent,
03:01so he left his service and became a producer.
03:04He made films like Awargi, Marg, etc.
03:09Mahesh Bhatt was the director.
03:11Heima, Jee.
03:12He had to go to the house.
03:13He was the director.
03:14He had to go to the house.
03:15And I wanted to see the film, the film, the film, the film, the film, the film, the film, the film.
03:24And in my childhood, I taught my mother to dance and she was a dancer, so she saw dance, music, films, and then my father became a producer.
03:33So I was going to go to his set with him.
03:39So he went to music recording once again.
03:41Anu Malik Ji was a music director, Maish Bhad was a director.
03:44So when I was in my father's music setting, sitting and recording,
03:50someone else saw me and said to my father that I am making a film and I want to launch Madhu.
03:57So my father was confused, because as I said to you,
04:02I saw this dream that I wanted to become an actor.
04:09But after going to my mother, that dream was gone.
04:13Because I thought I can't be one.
04:15And I didn't say this to my father.
04:18And he was a producer.
04:20But then I didn't say this to him, that I want to be an actor.
04:24Then when I went to his set,
04:26some other producer-director saw me and said to my father,
04:31that I will launch my son.
04:33And my father was confused,
04:36because I didn't say this to him.
04:38He didn't say this to him.
04:39He didn't say this to him.
04:40He was confused.
04:41So he came to the house and said to his tone,
04:43he wants to launch you.
04:45And so on.
04:46Disbelief.
04:47I said,
04:50I want to be an actor.
04:52That is when I expressed myself.
04:55Okay.
04:56And then,
04:57that was launched with him.
04:58So,
04:59he did a photo shoot for me.
05:01For Illustrated Weekly Magazine.
05:04And then,
05:06he enrolled me for a crash course for me.
05:10And then,
05:12when the shoot started,
05:15he felt like I wasn't ready.
05:17And then,
05:19they replaced me with another artist.
05:22So,
05:23after shooting,
05:24they replaced me?
05:25Yes.
05:26After shooting,
05:27after shooting,
05:28they replaced me?
05:29Yes.
05:30After 3-4 days,
05:31I realized that I'm not in that film.
05:33But,
05:34that period,
05:35they said,
05:37that I decided to be an actor.
05:40Then,
05:41that was a determination.
05:42After that,
05:43that was a determination.
05:45After that,
05:47that in between period,
05:48that was a confusion,
05:50that I can't see myself as an actor.
05:53That was all that,
05:54after that moment,
05:55that was changed.
05:56Then,
05:57I had a full training with Roshan Ji.
06:01I had a diploma course.
06:02I had a language.
06:04I had a confidence.
06:05I had a filmy dance class.
06:09I had a brush-up class.
06:11And,
06:12my father's dream was that
06:14I had a graduate,
06:15I had a graduate,
06:16and I had a complete
06:17that.
06:18After all,
06:19after all,
06:20to answer your question,
06:21in short.
06:22Because,
06:23I couldn't answer it in short.
06:24I couldn't answer it.
06:25I couldn't answer it.
06:26I couldn't answer it.
06:27Right.
06:28Because,
06:29it was all that happened.
06:30It was a magical moment.
06:31That,
06:32when I was at home,
06:33after all,
06:34after all,
06:35I had a graduate,
06:36I had a graduate,
06:37studies,
06:39and a diploma course.
06:41After all,
06:42everything was going to happen.
06:43It was an empty space in my life.
06:45I was not doing anything.
06:46And,
06:47my father was pressing.
06:48Like,
06:50I was having a doctor through the experience,
06:51I'm doing a doctor,
06:52and then,
06:53I started to be doing a doctor.
06:54You are now doing a doctor.
06:56But,
06:57I would have never leave it alone,
06:58but,
06:59I would have never leave it alone.
07:00I would have never leave it alone.
07:01That,
07:02the conversation,
07:03during the springtime.
07:04When I was at home,
07:05actually the time when I was at home,
07:06and,
07:07playing with my friends,
07:08and my brother,
07:09playing caromboard with my friends,
07:11At that time, the phone rang and it rang when I rang the phone and rang the other side of Kukukoli and they said that I am talking about Kukukoli, we are making a film, Veerudev Ganji is launching his daughter and the film has been made and we are looking at you for the romantic lead.
07:37I have not heard that whole thing because my concentration was on the coin that I was aiming for and I got the phone.
07:47So, I don't know that today's kids would have a big phone on the table, a landline and his connection was in the other room.
07:56So, my father was sitting in the hall room and I heard a lot of noise here.
08:01I was like, just take a call, there is somebody called Kukukoli. Next thing I know, he spoke and next thing I knew, I was doing that film.
08:09Wow. And that is how magically there was no auditioning, there was no office to office.
08:17As I was going to say, they have not done that film anything in there.
08:21So, waiting period definitely had happened.
08:23One moment was rejection but the training period for me.
08:27And the most important period was for quarantine that I have thought, now I will try it to do this.
08:34Big, big fat, thin whatever maybe the case.
08:38Now I will become an actor and after that moment, I got this opportunity
08:45One question, you said that the film was already made and did it with someone else?
08:51I think so
08:52So you replaced someone else?
08:54Yes, and so it goes
09:01Did you meet Ajay Devgan at that time? Just before shooting?
09:05No, I got it on set
09:07Okay
09:09What did you feel your first impression of Ajay Devgan?
09:12Because he was not a very good looking person
09:14You know, I was very blinded by my own desire, burning desire
09:23Today I am a very different person
09:26That's why thinking about that girl, 20 year old girl
09:31You know, talking to me is a little difficult for me
09:34Because today I am not a person
09:36But to go back, that girl who was a 20 year old
09:40Who was fighting in 13 years in life
09:44You know, fighting in every situation
09:47I was fighting in the kitchen
09:48I was making food for my father to support me
09:50I was not a person
09:52I was not a person
09:53If I was forgetting to order a gas cylinder, it would not be a gas
09:57Because I was telling him to order a gas cylinder
09:59I would go to the night
10:00But then I had to go to the house
10:02And then I would go to the house
10:03And then I would go to the house
10:04And then I would go to the house
10:05Because I would miss
10:06Now she was little
10:08Yes
10:09But that girl, then I would never believe on her own dreams
10:13To have self-belief
10:15as long as my mother was alive, they said I am the prettiest girl in the whole world.
10:24And I just wanted to go outside just to go to my home, because we were very close as families,
10:32and all of that.
10:33I wanted to go to my home, and I wanted to go to my home.
10:36I wanted to go to my home, and I wanted to go to my home.
10:41I wanted to go to my home, and I wanted to go to my home, and I wanted to go to my home.
10:47So, my auntie also told me, after Hema, it is you.
10:52You know, my mommy used to say, you are going to be the next actor, and I will become an actor.
10:59You are the most beautiful girl in town.
11:02So, the belief that mother and father are thinking, you are the queen on this earth.
11:10So, I did not see anything.
11:11I did not see anything in social media.
11:12There was no exposure.
11:13There was no TV channels.
11:14I did not know what the world was.
11:16The world was only for me and my world.
11:19That's all.
11:20After that, when I went to Mithibhai College, then I saw, oh, the girl looks like this.
11:29Right.
11:30And this is an actor.
11:32This is an actor.
11:33This is an actor.
11:34This is an actor.
11:35This is not an actor.
11:36And then I became into a shadow of me.
11:39This is an actor.
11:40This is an actor.
11:41This is an actor.
11:42This is an actor.
11:43This is an actor.
11:44I have been selected to do this role.
11:45You think I can be an actor?
11:46I asked him this.
11:47Okay.
11:48You think, can I be an actor?
11:49So, he in his very majestic voice said, do you want to be an actor?
11:50He asked me.
11:51I said, yes.
11:52He says, then never ask this question ever again.
11:53Okay.
11:54Okay.
11:55So, I said, yes.
11:56I have been selected to do this role.
11:57I asked him this.
11:58Okay.
11:59You think, can I be an actor?
12:00So, he in his very majestic voice said, do you want to be an actor?
12:15He asked me.
12:16I said, yes.
12:17I have never asked this question ever again.
12:19Okay.
12:20You want it.
12:21You go for it.
12:22He said that to me once.
12:23Typical manish.
12:24Yes.
12:25Yes.
12:26But, having said that, I was replaced.
12:32I faced rejection.
12:34And rejection, because I was not good enough, obviously.
12:37They thought that I wasn't ready or I wasn't good enough.
12:41So, I wasn't.
12:42That picture?
12:43Yes.
12:44And you saw it?
12:45I didn't see it.
12:46But, I went.
12:47But, that was it.
12:48You see, there was something else in your achievements.
12:52As you say, the kids always say, what is the mind of it is good.
12:56Yes, it doesn't.
12:57Yes, it is good.
12:58Yes, it is good.
12:59Yes, it is good.
13:00But, I want to come to that.
13:01So, you asked Ajay Devgan, what did you get to that set?
13:08The back story is, I came from a place of such a not good feeling.
13:13Right.
13:14When I went to the set, neither did I see Ajay Devgan, neither did I see Amrish Puri, nor did I see Aruna Irani Ji, nor did I appreciate the tune of Nadeem Shravan.
13:27I didn't see anything.
13:28It was just, it was just me.
13:29Me.
13:30That's it.
13:31In that moment, only was it that I will become an actor and I will see myself on the screen.
13:40And I will say this from the whole world, I belong to the film world, but I did it all by myself.
