Manisha Koirala Almost Rejected Mani Ratnam's Bombay For THIS Reason

Manisha Koirala is one of the talented actresses of Indian cinema who rose to fame with the romantic drama 1942: A Love Story, helmed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Following the success, the actress was offered Mani Ratnam's Bombay, which brought her to mainstream cinema and since then there has been no looking back for the actress. However, not many know that she rejected the offer at first.

Why did Manisha Koirala reject Bombay?

In a recent interview on the YouTube channel O2 India, Koirala shared that during those days, mainstream actresses were discouraged from taking up parts where they had to play a mother. The actress admitted that she was "not wise back then" when she rejected the offer. It was because she feared being typecast as a mother. “I remember I got an offer of Bombay. I had heard the music, but I had not seen Roja. But I knew that Roja is a big hit. But when I was asked to do Bombay, I was a little apprehensive."

"I was not wise back then. So there were a lot of norms in Bollywood in those days. Like a heroine cannot do a mother’s role, otherwise a heroine will be typecast forever as a mother. And I used to listen to those things because those are the people who come and tell you that,” she added.

Who changed Manisha Koirala's perception?

The actress recalled that when cinematographer Ashok Mehta, whom she had worked with in Saudagara, got to know about the offer, he told her that she would be an "idiot" if she didn't accept Bombay. “Ashok Mehta fired me and said, ‘beta, what are you doing? Do you know the kind of filmmaker he is? Do you know the level of good work he has continuously churned out? And his last film was a big commercial success too. You are an idiot if you refuse this film’," she continued.

This jolted the Maan actress and then she jetted off to Chnnai for a look test. After a look test and photo shoot, the makers decided that she'd play Shaila Banu. Adding to it, Koirala said that she was "really happy" that she decided to take up the film because the whole story ends with people coming together despite the divisiveness, despite the trouble. "I like the philosophy of the film,” she concluded.

What do we know about Bombay?

Co-starring Arvind Swamy, the film tells the story of an inter-religious family in Bombay before and during the Bombay riots, which took place between December 1992 and January 1993 after the demolition of the Babri Masjid led to religious tensions between Hindu and Muslim communities.  It was the second instalment in Ratnam's trilogy of films that depict human relationships against a background of Indian politics, including Roja (1992) and Dil Se.. (1998).