"I asked her why...": Aruna Irani reveals Rekha ousted her from cast of 'Mangalsutra'
Feb 02, 2023
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], February 2 : Veteran Indian actor Aruna Irani, who has worked in the entertainment industry for over five decades, is known for her versatility and has played a variety of roles ranging from comedic to dramatic.
In an ANI podcast with Smita Prakash, the actor recently recalled being ousted from the 1981 film 'Mangalsutra'. Aruna stated the reason for this was that the film's female lead Rekha, who was her friend, had asked the producers to do so.
She said, "Rekha was a very good friend to me. There was this one film of her's 'Mangalsutra' in which they cast me in the role of the first wife who becomes a ghost after dying and Rekha was the other one. So, when they cast me, she removed me from that film. When I asked them why they removed me from the picture, was there any problem? They said 'No, to be honest, Rekha ji didn't want, she did not want that you do it.'"
Aruna stated that she then inquired Rekha regarding this: "So when I was shooting together with her, I said that I have a question to ask, 'The producers say that you got me removed from the film' and very bold of her she said 'Yes'."
"I asked her why you did this and she said, 'See Aruna, in that film if the performance goes anywhere then I would come out as a vamp, that's why I didn't want you to do that role,'" she continued.
Aruna then gave two iterations of a dialogue; one in an emotional voice and one in a stern one, to show how voice modulation can affect the character's perception and Rekha could have come across as a vamp.
"I said you could have called me or told me, why you did do this, very bad. She said, 'sorry, what can I do now, it was for my career so I did not want to do it,'" added the actor.
'Mangalsutra' is a 1981 Bollywood horror film directed by Vijay B. The film stars Rekha and Anant Nag in lead roles along with Prema Narayan, Madan Puri and Om Shivpuri. This movie is a remake of the 1979 Kannada movie 'Naa Ninna Bidalaare' directed by Vijay.
Aruna, who has worked in around 500 films, has won several awards for her acting including two Filmfare Awards for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in 'Pet Pyaar Aur Paap' and 'Beta'.
