Jugal Hansraj is a well-known face of the Indian film industry. Back in 1983, the actor-filmmaker stepped into Bollywood as a child artist with Shekhar Kapur’s Masoom. In the movie, he shared the screen with brilliant stars like Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah. In an exclusive interview with Pinkvilla, Hansraj shared the lesser-known details of his relationship with Azmi and why she avoided having any conversation with him during the film’s shoot.
Jugal Hansraj reveals why Shabana Azmi was ‘cold’ towards him
In an exclusive interview with Pinkvilla, Jugal Hansraj spoke about his career trajectory, relationship with B-town biggies, and everything in between. During the chat, when the host inquired if he would speak to his co-star, Shabana Azmi, on set, the actor responded that they stayed away from each other as she is a “method actor.”
Explaining, Hansraj said, “Vo dono bachiyon k saath boht friendly thi, kyunki vo maa thi aur vo unke bachey they film mein. Lekin mujhse thoda duri rakhti thi Shabana Ji.” (She was very friendly with the other two girls because she was playing their mom in the movie, but she used to keep a distance from me.)
Watch the interview below:
But it was later that Hansraj realized that the senior actress did this to perfect her craft and make their troubled relationship in the movie relatable to the audience. Jugal admitted, “Baad mein pata laga that it was part of her process that she didn’t want us to become close because vo coldness jo hai vo screen pe dikhni chahiye. Sabko pata chala ke ek discomfort hai mujhme aur maa mein bhi. Toh vo both khoorsurati se unhoney kiya tha.” (I later got to know that it was part of her process, and she didn’t want us to become close because the audience should feel the coldness between us on the screen. Everyone was able to see the discomfort between the two characters, Indu Malhotra (played by Shabana Azmi) and Rahul Malhotra (played by young Jugal Hansraj). That she did beautifully.)
For the unversed, in the Shekhar Kapur film, Jugal played the role of Rahul, the son of Azmi’s husband and his second wife.
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