Why did Vidhu Vinod Chopra bite Manoj Bajpayee's wife?

Shabana Raza, more commonly known as Neha Bajpai, was an upcoming star when she joined Bollywood. She debuted with Bobby Deol in Kareeb (1998) under Vidhu Vinod Chopra, and the fame catapulted her to stardom. She disappeared from the industry by 2009. Her husband and actor Manoj Bajpayee recently shared his story of how and why this happened.

‘She didn’t quit films, she stopped getting work,’ says Manoj Bajpayee

Manoj addressed a common misconception during his recent interview about his wife's film career, "She didn't quit films, she stopped getting work for some reason. Too many politics here and there. She is also an outsider and didn't have any mentor." According to him, the lack of backing and industry politics slowly pushed Shabana out. Although Shabana has acted in several well-known films, due to limited opportunities, she has been unable to find work and has lost touch with the industry.

According to Manoj, Shabana was very vulnerable being a newcomer at the time. She had no formal training or any first-hand guidance. The Family Man actor also shared an incident from the sets of Kareeb. He said, “Because Shabana didn't have any film training of that sort, in the song she was raising a different hand altogether. In the scene, she was supposed to raise her left hand, but she would end up raising her right hand. So for her to raise the left hand without forgetting, Vidhu bit her there. Nobody can do this with me.”

This incident deeply affected Shabana. According to Manoj, “Because she was so new, she didn't know if the action was appropriate. She thought this is the way how filmmakers behave. She must have thought they are all mad geniuses, they are capable of doing anything they want."

Many years ago Bobby Deol recalled the same moment by saying, “He would constantly yell at her. For one scene, Neha had to come down the mountain and give me her left hand. But she kept getting confused. When she couldn't get this right after repeated takes, Vidhu asked her to bite her right hand. She did but she still got it wrong in the next take.” The Animal actor added, “After 20 takes, Vidhu lost his cool. And you know what he did? He bit her right hand. I was too shocked to react."

Following her role in Kareeb, Shabana went on to star opposite Hrithik Roshan in the film Fiza, Ajay Devgan in Hogi Pyaar Ki Jeet and Prabhu Deva in the Tamil film Alli Thandha Vaanam. Her last film was Acid Factory in 2009. Her journey serves as a very poignant reminder of what will happen to a great talent in Bollywood if it does not receive proper encouragement.

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