Mahima Chaudhary, who has worked in films like Pardes, Dil Hai Tumhara, Daag: The Fire among others, recently opened up about her share of struggles in the film industry. She said that filmmaker Subhash Ghai bullied her and asked producers to not work with her. For the unversed, the actress made her debut with Subhash Ghai’s Pardes, starring opposite Shah Rukh Khan.
In an interview with Bollywood Hungama, the actress said—
I was bullied by Mr. Subhash Ghai. He even took me to the court and wanted me to cancel my first show. It was quite stressful. He sent a message to all the producers that nobody should work with me! If you pick up one of the issues of Trade Guide magazine in 1998 or 1999, there was an ad that he had given which stated that if anybody wanted to work with me, that person would have to contact him. Otherwise, it would be a breach of contract. However, there was no such contract which said that I had to seek his permission.
Talking about Bollywood celebrities who came out in support of her, she said—
Salman Khan, Sanjay Dutt, David Dhawan and Rajkumar Santoshi were the only four people who stood by me. They all told me to stay strong. David Dhawan called and told me that, ‘Don’t worry and don’t let him bully you.’ Apart from these four people, I didn’t receive a call from anyone else.
The actress went on to reveal that she was replaced by Urmila Matondkar in Ram Gopal Varma‘s Satya. She shared that the director didn’t even inform her about this.
On the professional front, Mahima was last seen in Agnidev Chatterjee’s Bengali crime thriller, Dark Chocolate. The film revolved around the murder of Sheena Bora.