Meenakshi Seshadri, a prominent actress of the 80s and 90s, shared an experience about filmmaker Rahul Rawail casting her opposite Sunny Deol in Dacait but being clear about not paying her usual fee. Rawail felt that working with him itself was valuable enough.
In an interview with Friday Talkies, Meenakshi recounted how Rawail had visited her, and she was excited at the prospect of working with the director behind films like Betaab, Arjun, and Love Story. He explained that Sunny Deol would have the main role in Dacait, with the focus primarily on his character’s family. Although her role was smaller, he promised it would have meaningful scenes and a few songs, assuring her that he always presented his heroines beautifully on screen. She had reassured him that further persuasion wasn’t needed.
When it came to finalizing the deal, however, Rawail made it clear that he wouldn’t pay her usual fee, saying that the chance to work with him was itself a reward. Meenakshi admitted that, as a fan of his work, she agreed despite feeling emotional.
Meenakshi debuted in Hindi cinema in the 1980s and went on to work with stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna, Jeetendra, Vinod Khanna, and Shatrughan Sinha. She left the industry in 1996 to focus on her personal life and eventually moved to the USA.
Recently though, Meenakshi has been actively doing collaborations with creators and a few interviews as well. Whether or not, this means that she will come back to the big screen, we’ll have to wait and see.
