Even if you don’t think it’s okay for the editor of a magazine to diss its cover star, please indulge me for a bit. For I have a bone to pick with Bhagyashree, the star of the movie that shaped a generation.
Maine Pyar Kiya (1989) may not be counted amongst mindset-shapers like DDLJ, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and K3G, but geriatric millennials will remember it as the film that launched Salman Khan and made going shirtless the new symbol of masculinity.
The leading lady was called Suman, a girl-next-door dripping innocence and charm, played by Bhagyashree, who had audiences fall in love with her instantly.
But, despite the movie becoming a huge hit, Bhagyashree decided to hit pause on her career. She wanted to get married instead. The decision itself wasn’t problematic; the message it sent out, that she couldn’t work after marriage, was.
Then, a couple of years later, she announced she’d act again, but only if her husband played her hero! <Insert eyeroll.>
For ambitious youngsters in a country going through globalisation, all of us itching for a more modern way of living, this was rather regressive.
{{/usCountry}}For ambitious youngsters in a country going through globalisation, all of us itching for a more modern way of living, this was rather regressive.
{{/usCountry}}Thankfully, not all of it was in vain.
In today’s cover story, Bhagyashree, now 53 and back to being an actor, tells us that she didn’t actively pursue career opportunities for the sake of her children. She had wanted to start a family.
Standing alongside her two grown-up kids, both successful actors in their own right, Bhagyashree looks like a million bucks. Her son, Abhimanyu Dassani, 32, made a critically-acclaimed debut in Mard Ko Dard Nahin Hota (2018) and swept awards and hearts with his performance as a simple South Indian boy in Netflix’s Meenakshi Sundareshwar (2021).
(Incidentally, I watched Meenakshi… not knowing that Abhimanyu was Bhagyashree’s son. Both kids have charted their own careers, and tried to keep their mum’s connections at bay. When I first chatted with Abhimanyu on Instagram last year and suggested we do a story with him and his mother, he seemed unsure he wanted to highlight the connection.)
Avantika, 24, made her debut just a few months ago in Rohan Sippy’s Mithya (2022) on Zee5, with what audiences are calling “a powerful performance.”
Seeing the mother and her millennial kids support each other through their first-ever cover shoot together (check out their vibe in this BTS: https://www.read.ht/MbP9) one wonders if my disappointment from 30 years ago was justified. For Bhagyashree has a glow that comes only to those who follow their hearts.
“Actually, it’s because she has amazing kids like us,” quips Abhimanyu. “We don’t stress her out. That’s the secret of her timeless beauty. We deserve the credit!”
Also in this issue: Rajeev Masand analyses the star power of Shah Rukh Khan and Tom Cruise. Luke Coutinho shows how those who’ve had Covid in the past must strengthen themselves physically as well as emotionally, and designer Amit Aggarwal gets in bed with questions everyone wants to ask, but not all can answer.
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From HT Brunch, May 14, 2022
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