Veteran Bollywood actress Mandakini has shared some surprising memories from her early years in the Hindi film industry, including the fact that she never received payment for around 16 to 17 films during her career.
The actress who is best known for Ram Teri Ganga Maili also spoke about how different the atmosphere on film sets was during that era. She remembered the working environment as friendly, relaxed and almost like a family.
Mandakini said she enjoyed working with her colleagues and found everyone cooperative. According to her, film sets had a warm and personal atmosphere, which made the experience enjoyable. She also recalled that interactions between actors and other members of the film industry were much more informal at the time.
People would often eat together on sets, and actors did not have the same level of privacy or separation that is common today. Everyone could meet and interact freely and people would even visit each other’s rooms without needing to ask for permission.
Mandakini said this informal culture also extended to film contracts and payments. According to the actress, contracts were often much simpler than they are today. Filmmakers could ask an actor to sign a film first, while the payment details were handled later. In some cases, actors were paid, while in others, the money never arrived.
Mandakini revealed that she sometimes agreed to work without worrying about the payment, especially when filmmakers or colleagues requested her help for a limited period. She recalled being asked to work for around 15 days on certain projects and agreeing to do it without making payment the main concern. However, she said that while she ultimately received money for most of her work, there were 16 to 17 films for which she was never paid.
Mandakini explained that there were several reasons behind these unpaid projects. In some cases, films were not completed or were never released. She also recalled situations where a film was released but other planned films in the same project were never released. There were also cases where the final payment was never cleared despite her having completed the work.
Mandakini’s memories offer a glimpse into a much less formal period of the Hindi film industry, when film contracts, payments and relationships on sets were handled in a very different way.
