Veteran actor Mandakini has opened up about her early years in the Hindi film industry, recalling the informal and close-knit atmosphere on film sets and revealing that she was never paid for around 16 to 17 films during her career.
The actress said the informality also extended to the way films were signed and payments were handled at the time. Speaking to ANI in an exclusive interview, Mandakini recalled that she enjoyed working with her colleagues and described the atmosphere on film sets as warm, personal and “homely. “The atmosphere used to be very good. Everyone used to eat together, and there was no such thing as asking someone before meeting an actor. Everyone used to sit together, and anyone could go to anyone’s room. She recalled that contracts were often less complicated, with people sometimes simply asking an actor to sign a film, while payment arrangements were settled later. “In films, their contracts were very informal. People used to say, come on, sign the film. And after that, sometimes you get a payment, sometimes you don’t. That too used to happen,” Mandakini recalled.
Comparing the working environment of that era with the present, the Ram Teri Ganga Maili actor said interactions between actors and other members of the film fraternity were much more informal. It used to feel good and used to feel homely,” she said. Explaining how such situations arose, the actress said some films were left incomplete or unreleased, while in other cases the final payment was never cleared.
