90s actress Meenakshi Sheshadri reveals: I was asked to leave the film ‘Damini’ after I rejected the director’s marriage proposal

Meenakshi Sheshadri, one of the popular Bollywood actresses of the 90s, has worked in many superhit films. One of these films was ‘Damini’ in which her work was highly praised.

During the making of ‘Damini’, Meenakshi had rejected the marriage proposal of the film’s director Rajkumar Santoshi, due to which she was almost removed from the film. Meenakshi talked about this during an interview.

It is said that filmmaker Rajkumar Santoshi used to cast Meenakshi as the heroine in most of his films at that time.

In an interview to Zoom, she said, ‘I was cast in the film and I started shooting for ‘Damini’ but then there were issues. I was asked to leave the film. My role was offered to other actresses but they refused to work in the film in support of me and told the filmmaker, ‘It will be wrong if we accept this role in their place. We cannot do this. I remember Madhuri’s name was among these actresses, I do not remember the names of the rest.’

Now Meenakshi runs dance classes in Texas.

Meenakshi spoke on Santoshi’s proposal

Meenakshi further talked about Rajkumar Santoshi’s marriage proposal and said, ‘Santoshji and I had decided that we will not talk about this. I dealt with all these things by keeping quiet because if I spoke, my dignity would have been questioned and this matter would have turned into a fight.’

Meenakshi further said, ‘I thought ‘Damini’ is a big film and I respect everyone associated with it, especially Rajkumar Santoshi because his vision was excellent. When I was thrown out of the film midway, the Producer Guild and Artist Guild stood by me and thus the shooting of the film could be completed.’

‘Ghaatak’ was the last film

Meenakshi was last seen in the 1996 film ‘Ghaatak’. Since then, neither any of her films were released nor was she seen in any Bollywood party or function. Apart from being an actress, Meenakshi, a great classical dancer, has worked with almost every big producer-director. Big film stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Khanna, Rishi Kapoor, Anil Kapoor have been her heroes. Apart from Damini, ‘Hero’ and ‘Ghaatak’ were her hit films.

Meenakshi with husband Harish Mysore and children.

Married to a banker

After saying goodbye to Bollywood, Meenakshi married a banker named Harish Mysore. This marriage was registered in New York. After marriage, both of them live in Texas with their entire family. Meenakshi and Harish have two children, one named Kendra and the other named Josh.