Mita Vashisht Recalls Dil Se Scene, Says Mani Ratnam Favoured Manisha Koirala: 'Hum Dono Ka Sharir...'

Mita Vashisht has slammed Mani Ratnam’s Dil Se, revealing how the director’s constant script changes left her feeling let down. The actress, who played a militant alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Manisha Koirala, underwent intense physical training to nail her role as a trained killer. But she’s not happy with how things turned out.

Mita, in a chat with Lallantop, said, “Mani Ratman kept changing the script. The second half focused on the terrorist entering Delhi. If I look at the film today, it is a beautiful film. I trained, lifted dumbles and built biceps because my character is a trained killer.”

Mita revealed she was disappointed with her role in Dil Se and was also misled about how big her part would be. She also recalled how they were not given the whole script. “They never told us the script before but Mani Ratam was like God. He told me my role in the film was bigger than Drohkaal. It was a film I got an award for. They didn’t divulge anything about anyone’s role except for Shah Rukh,” she said.

Mita Vashisht remembered a scene where she was helping Manisha Koirala put on a bomb vest. In the scene, Mita was fully dressed while Manisha was bare from the waist up. The script originally didn’t call for this. “I was supposed to help Manisha’s character wear a similar jacket. Hum dono ka sharir ek tarah se nagn hai (In some way, we are semi naked) and Manisha’s character’s becomes vulnerable. When Santosh Sivan gave okay to the shot, Mani Ratnam called the costume designer Piya. Piya called me and said, ‘Mita, I have to give you a T-Shirt.’ I then hear Mani Ratnam shout, ‘Not T-Shirt, give her full-sleeved clothes that will fully cover her.’ I then I realised that my biceps and my body was overshadowing Manisha. She is a pretty face and she didn’t focus on training for the physicality. Her character was a militant but she didn’t work hard enough on her body to look like the part,” she said.

Mita remembered that a major fight scene was cut from the film, and it seemed like the decision was to favour Manisha Koirala. She was disappointed to learn during dubbing that the scene was removed. “He was trying to cover up for his heroine. She should’ve done her homework better no? He should’ve told her to go to the gym and lose some weight,” she said.