Actress Priti Sapru has narrated an unpleasant experience during the filming of the Hindi movie Jagir in 1984, saying that her character was drastically cut from the story after she turned down the director’s proposal to serve him some food. Actress Priti Sapru recently opened up about this episode during an interview with Bollywood Thikana.
As per actress Priti Sapru, this whole episode took place on the second day of shooting of the movie. At that time, actress Priti Sapru went to the birthday party of actor Danny Denzongpa where the whole unit of the film was invited to attend the party.
What happened between Priti Sapru and Jagir director Pramod Chakravorty?
Sapru claims that Chakravorty came to the gathering after completing his work and asked her to serve him food. The demand did not go down well with the actor, who wondered why she was being asked to do so, since she was one of the actors in the movie. Sapru remembered that Madan, the secretary of Denzongpa, told her to serve the food, as it would not make much difference. But Sapru says that she turned down the offer.
The actress also claimed that some experienced directors had expectations from the actors and made them flatter them.
Priti Sapru claims her role was reduced the next day
Sapru claims that the implications came into light the next day when the shooting began again. She says that Chakravorty put her behind the seasoned actor Amrish Puri, giving her a much smaller role compared to the one that Sapru thought was being narrated to her. As per her claim, Sapru confronted the director and told him that the role that was narrated to her was very different from what he was making her do.
Sapru even told him to put her name under guest appearances since she had already shot a day in the movie. She claimed that Chakravorty told her that he had Zeenat Aman and would not give her the credit. Sapru further claims that he told her that she would not make it in the film industry.
The story of Sapru is an incident that marks a turning point in her experience of the production. However, the connection between her refusal and the change in her role is just her recollection.
Priti Sapru also recalled walking out of Avtaar
The actor also spoke about an earlier experience during the making of Avtaar (1983), which starred Rajesh Khanna and Shabana Azmi.
Sapru recalled that choreographer Suresh Master addressed the lead actors by their names but referred to her and Sachin Pilgaonkar as “the boy and the girl” during a song sequence. She said the way they were addressed made her feel as though they were being treated like junior artistes, prompting her to walk off the set. Sapru played Shobha, the wife of Ramesh, in the Mohan Kumar-directed film.
What did Priti Sapru say about Prakash Mehra?
Another instance Sapru recounted was her argument with filmmaker Prakash Mehra during the shooting of Laawaris (1981), which featured Amitabh Bachchan and Zeenat Aman. As Sapru recounted, her father, the renowned actor D.K. Sapru, had passed away only 40 days prior to her trip to Kashmir to shoot the film, and Sapru was still mourning her loss.
In the same account, Sapru said that later Suresh Oberoi, an actor, informed her that Mehra had referred to her as “crazy” since she used to stand away from everyone else. Sapru also stated that she confronted Mehra when she met him next and did not apologize since she had done nothing wrong on the sets.
These three accounts represent Sapru’s view of her early experiences in the Hindi film industry.