Meenakshi Seshadri reveals why people found her and Jackie Shroff's pairing in Hero 'peculiar'

Meenakshi Seshadri. Pic/Instagram. (right) Jackie Shroff. File pic

Actress Meenakshi Seshadri said that many were apprehensive after she and actor Jackie Shroff were cast together in "Hero" (1983) but soon, these people had to "eat their words".

Meenakshi was in conversation on Lehren, where she recalled that Jackie was introduced by actor-filmmaker Dev Anand through "Swami Dada" in 1982 and she stepped into Bollywood with "Painter Babu" in 1983, which was directed by Manoj Kumar.

"It was Dev sir, who introduced Jackie Shroff in his first major film and Manoj ji introduced me," she said.

"It was our second film, Hero. People found it peculiar because they said he is so westernised, his style is different... Meenakshi is more like a ‘Bharatiya naari'. How will this film be made? But everybody had to eat their words because Subhash Ghai knew exactly what he was doing there," Meenakshi said.

"Hero" was a romantic action film, which was remade in Telugu and Kannada in the 1980s and was remade in Bollywood in 2015 "with the same title".

After "Hero", Meenakshi became one of Hindi cinema's leading actresses in the 1980s and 1990s with her work in films such as "Aandhi Toofan", "Meri Jung", "Swati", "Dilwaala", "Dacait", "Inaam Dus Hazaar", "Parivaar", "Shahenshah", "Ghayal", "Ghar Ho Toh Aisa", "Damini", "Ghatak", and "Dahleez".

It was in 1996 when the actress last appeared in films with the Sunny Deol-starrer "Ghatak: Letha". She then left the industry to raise her children in the US with her husband, where she runs the Cherish Dance School. Later, a documentary was made about her life, christened "Meenakshi Accept Her Wings".

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