Renuka claims she was told to quit her dreams of becoming a heroine

• Renuka Shahane played Pooja, the elder sister of Madhuri Dixit’s Nisha.
• She made her Bollywood debut in Hum Aapke Hain Koun in 1994.
• The family drama is based on Rajshri Productions’ previous hit Nadiya Ke Paar.

Prior to making her Hindi film debut in 1994 with Sooraj Barjatya’s Hum Aapke Hain Koun, Renuka Shahane was already well-known. She appeared in the television program Circus alongside Shah Rukh Khan, and she co-hosted the Doordarshan program Surabhi with Siddharth Kak. In the popular Hindi movie, Renuka portrayed Pooja, the older sister of Madhuri Dixit‘s character Nisha who marries Mohnish Bahl. Salman Khan appears in the family drama, which is based on Rajshri Productions’ earlier smash Nadiya Ke Paar.

In 1992, the actor made her motion picture debut in the Marathi film Hach Sunbaicha Bhau. But Hum Aapke Hain Koun was the film that made her even more well-known. After then, she was frequently cast as the lead characters’ sister, wife, or bhabhi (sister-in-law). But she admitted that when she agreed to play the part of Pooja in the popular movie, she understood exactly what she was doing.

Renuka revealed to Mid-Day in her conversation: “Before accepting the part, Soorajji’s father, Raj babu ji [Rajkumar Barjatya], had advised me. He didn’t have to explain this to me because I was a rookie, but he did: “Once you do this, if you have any desires to become a heroine, you won’t get such opportunities because you would be typecast as someone’s sister or wife. In essence, second lead! You won’t be given the lead.”

Added she, “I was okay with that because I didn’t come with any such goals; instead, I just wanted to have fun and learn on the job. I was awed by his generosity in guiding me.” Renuka also mentioned how frequently in movies, her character was simply referred to as the heroine’s sister without ever having a name. In the 1990s and 2000s, she also accepted more television jobs since she found them to be more rewarding. Even in the Zee TV comedy Mrs. Madhuri Dixit, the actor portrayed the main character.

The previous year, Renuka, who is wed to actor Ashutosh Rana, appeared in Govinda Naam Mera on Disney+ Hotstar. In addition, she was the director of the Hindi film Tribhanga, which debuted on Netflix in 2021, and the 2006 Marathi film Rita. Tribhanga, which starred Kajol, Tanvi Azmi, and Mithila Palkar, focused on the challenging interactions between three generations of women in a household.

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