“He Rejected Me, How Dare He!” – When Hema Malini Was Removed From A Film

Dream Girl Hema Malini opens up about facing rejection at the beginning of her career. We know that she made her big Bollywood debut opposite Raj Kapoor in Sapnon Ke Saudagar in 1968. But what we didn’t know is the rejection she faced before she got her big Bollywood break. The 18-year-old Hema was first offered a Tamil film by director CV Sridhar. It wasn’t Hema who roamed around and approached the filmmakers but instead, the offers came to her as she used to perform at events as a classical dancer in Chennai.

In an exclusive interview with Bharathi S Pradhan, the actress turned politician Hema Malini revealed, “At that time, a lot of classical dance shows used to happen in Chennai and a lot of producers used to attend those shows to find a good-looking girl. So, he saw me and then he signed. Very reluctantly, my mother and I agreed. And then he rejected me, so it was a little shock to me.”

Elaborating on the incident, she stated, “I was signed by Sridhar from Tamil film industry and then he took me and changed my name to Sujata and all. After shooting for four days, he rejected me like a hot potato. He didn’t find me good enough for his film. Jayalalitha was there and I was there in that film. But that gave me a big jolt. I was shocked that he saw my dance shows and came to me himself.”

Looking at the brighter side of rejection, Hema said, “But it’s good it happened because that gave me the push that I have to make it- ‘I have to show now. He has rejected me, how dare he!’ So, I took it as a challenge and wanted to do my best. And then immediately the offer of Sapnon Ka Saudagar came to me. Ananthaswami ji signed me and the history everybody knows.”

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Hema further revealed that she had planned to quit acting after her first film was released. She said, “I had planned to get out after doing just one film. I just had to show that person who rejected me that I could do it.

In the interview, she explained, “I used to think, I used to tell my mother, ‘Now I have done this film, I don’t want to do any more films.’ Mummy was also in a little confusion as to what is to be done. So many offers started coming in even before it was released. BR Chopra, J Om Prakash and many other producers came with offers and everyone was controlled by Ananthaswami because I was under contract with him. Then there was no chance to get out. I made it. I had to be here only now. For the next so many years, I am going to be there. It’s been 50 years. At that time I didn’t know.”

She then mentioned that she holds no grudges for Sridhar who rejected her in the beginning. Interestingly, in 1973, she did Sridhar’s directorial Gehri Chaal, alongside Jeetendra and Amitabh Bachchan. Hema said, “He gave a nice role to me. And we never even mentioned about that incident. Neither of us talked about it as if it never happened. But for me, it was good that it happened.”

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Watch the full interview: