New Delhi:
Pooja Bhatt made her film debut at 17 in her father Mahesh Bhatt’s film Daddy. She recently opened up about why she said no when her family approached her for the blockbuster Aashiqui, stating that her then-boyfriend did not like her being an actor.
What’s Happening
- In a chat with Cyrus Broacha on his YouTube channel Cyrus Says, Pooja Bhatt said, “I was offered Aashiqui. The only time in my life my uncle Mukesh Bhatt came to my house with crisp bundles of cash. He said, ‘This is your signing amount’. I said, ‘I have decided I don’t want to act anymore’ because I was in love by then and my then-boyfriend was not very happy with having a girlfriend who would be an actor.”
- “He is still one of my best friends and he did not remember this detail. He never told me in no uncertain terms, ‘don’t act’. I was trying to be the good girlfriend and the sacrificial lamb and I said I am not going to do movies anymore,” she added.
- She then recalled how her paternal uncle and producer at Vishesh Films, Mukesh Bhatt, called her father Mahesh Bhatt and said, “Beti pagal ho gayi hai, na bol rahi hai film ko (Your daughter has gone crazy; she is saying no to the film).”
- Recalling her conversation with Mahesh Bhatt, Pooja Bhatt added, “All I could hear was deep breathing. My father was so angry. He said the destination might not be certain, but the flight is guaranteed, and you have no idea that you are making the biggest mistake of your life.”
- She elaborated that Mahesh Bhatt did not speak to her for two weeks after that. When her name flashed in the credits of her debut film Daddy, Mahesh Bhatt “clapped sarcastically”.
- However, later when she visited the sets of Aashiqui, she realised she wanted to be part of films and went on to do Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin, which also starred Aamir Khan.
Pooja Bhatt On Mahesh Bhatt’s Words During Her Debut Film Daddy
Pooja Bhatt spoke of how she had initially even considered being an architect or an astronaut, knowing how difficult the profession of acting is.
She recalled how Mahesh Bhatt had given her 24 hours to decide about Daddy, after which he returned and said he would approach Dimple Kapadia’s daughter Twinkle Khanna for the role.
“He said, ‘So you don’t want to act, but you don’t want the role to go to someone else. You are made for this business,’ and I just did it,” recalled Pooja Bhatt.
She also remembered how Mahesh Bhatt had warned her of the possibility of being fired on set. “I was thrown into the deep end. My father told me in no uncertain terms that if you can’t act, I am going to throw you out.”
“He told me on set, ‘It’s a different reality. If you can’t deliver, I am not going to give the world the privilege of telling you that you are no good.’ That’s the kind of upbringing one has had. Our families tell us the worst things that anyone out there in the world can tell us,” she added.
Latest Work
As for Pooja Bhatt, she was last seen in Prime Video’s 2024 series Big Girls Don’t Cry. She also appeared on the reality show Bigg Boss OTT 2 (2023) and in the film Chup: Revenge of the Artist (2022).
