Juhi Chawla on being asked to wear ‘just a shirt on a beach’ in Lootere song: ‘I was so self-conscious’

Juhi Chawla, who wore just a shirt in the song Main Teri Rani Tu Raja Mera, did not want it to look ‘tasteless’.

Juhi Chawla famously frolicked on the beach in a white shirt in the song Main Teri Rani Tu Raja Mera from Lootere. While the song went on to become iconic, the actor says that she was hesitant at the time of shooting it.

Juhi Chawla in a still from Main Teri Rani Tu Raja Mera.

In an interview with Rajeev Masand, Juhi admitted that it was ‘hard’ for her back then. “This came soon after Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988). Maybe I had just started Love Love Love (1989) or something like that. This was a radical change in my look and feel and everything. It was all Dharmesh Darshan and his imagination. It had to be in a shirt and I was so self-conscious because, ‘What? I am in a shirt on a beach? Only in a shirt?!’ Well, not quite, but yes,” she said, adding that it was important for her that it look ‘aesthetic’ and not ‘tasteless’.

Only when Juhi found out that Saroj Khan would be choreographing the song that she breathed a sigh of relief. “The moment Saroj ji was choreographing, I was like, okay. Because she has done work with Sridevi ji and Madhuri Dixit, and her work has finesse. So then I was comfortable and it happened, and even I have to say that it looked quite nice,” she said.

Main Teri Rani Tu Raja Mera also featured Sunny Deol spying on Juhi from behind a rock as she happily sang and danced on the beach. The song was sung by Alka Yagnik and Udit Narayan.

Juhi was last seen on the big screen as a caterer with acting dreams in Shelly Chopra Dhar’s directorial debut, Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga. The film also starred Sonam Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao, Anil Kapoor and Regina Cassandra.

Juhi will be seen next in Hitesh Bhatia’s Sharmaji Namkeen alongside Rishi Kapoor. The film is being produced by Excel Entertainment (Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar) in collaboration with MacGuffin Pictures (Honey Trehan and Abhishek Chaubey).

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