Veteran actor Farida Jalal, who recently played a titular role in Heeramandi, recently shared that she started getting mother roles at a very young age. In an interview with India Today, Jalal spoke about how, when she made her comeback with Heena, she had played Rishi Kapoor’s mother and during Laadla, Anil Kapoor felt she was too young to play his mom. When she was asked why she chose to play a mother on screen at such a young age, she added, “It was offered to me. Henna, which was my comeback film after eight years, had Rishi Kapoor. I was opposite him in Bobby. I might have been older than him by two or five years, but I played his mother in Henna. We would be laughing about this on sets.”
Recalling her experience while shooting for Laadla, Farida Jalal said, “Jalal said, “When I was doing Laadla, Anil would stop the shot in between… he is such a sweetheart, he would say ‘mother wali feeling hi nahi aa rahi hai yaar’ (I cannot feel her as a mother). He would cut the shot saying it was all going wrong, there was this song ‘Teri Ungli Pakad Kar Chala’, and he would ask to cut the shot and say, she is too young.”
The actress, who had played the role of the actor’s mother in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai told India Today that she is not in touch with the superstar. “No, I am not in touch. How do I get to him, tell me? (even) Salman, how do I get to them? You know, they have changed their mobiles or whatever. The number I have of Shah Rukh… I had a shoulder surgery done and he has done many. So, those days I went to his doctor also. He called (me) out of the blue, so sweet na?”
Farida Jalal shared how Shah Rukh Khan comforted her following her shoulder surgery. “Farida ji, I have to tell you, yeh jo shoulder surgery hai na… don’t get impatient. It’s going to take lots of time to get back that movement’. I was very worried why I was not able to lift my arm up. He phoned me, I felt so good when he called. He said, ‘Farida ji, just don’t worry, this takes time. After a year, you’ll be able to lift your arm well. But it takes time, so don’t lose patience’, he said”.
Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar is a story set in British India, focusing on Mallikajaan’s (Manisha Koirala) challenges when Fareedan (Sonakshi Sinha), her old rival’s daughter, returns. The series stars Richa Chadha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sharmin Segal, and Sanjeeda Shaikh, along with Fardeen Khan, Shekhar Suman, Adhyayan Suman, and Taha Shah.
