In a recent podcast hosted by Humans of Bombay, Sonali Bendre recalled her days working in Bollywood, the actress shared a few interesting anecdotes.

In her hit song from Naraaz (1994), ‘Sambhala Hai Mene’, Bendre revealed all her costumes were hand-me-downs of the main lead Pooja Bhatt, “When I signed Naraaz with Bhatt sahib, the clothes for the second heroine were the rejects of Pooja Bhatt. That’s what came to me. But the advantage of that was her rejects were clothes only I could pull off. Suddenly that one song from Naaraz made me.”

Bendre also shared her views on the importance of looks in Bollywood, “Film is a visual medium, that’s the business. There is no need to shy away from it. If you do not look a certain way, you cannot be on screen. You need to have a certain kind of symmetry, and it is only because of that symmetry I got into this business.”

On being an outsider, “I remember most of my career, I was not enjoying what I was doing. When I was shooting Naraaz, I did not even know ‘5,6,7,8’ was the cue. Everyone started to dance while I was still waiting for the director to call ‘action.’ I was so embarrassed. I felt like an imposter.”

Bendre and Bhatt have worked together in films like Naaraz , Zakhm (1998) and Angaaray (1998).

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