Mandira Bedi reveals she got stereotyped after DDLJ, turned down film offers because of that

Mandira Bedi's first notable role in a movie was as the shy Preeti Singh in Aditya Chopra’s Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. She then became a household figure with her appearance as the vamp Mandira Kapadia in Ekta Kapoor's serial Kyunki Saas Kabhi Bahu Thi. Despite the movie's popularity, Mandira did not appear in any other movie for a long time.

She has been seen in limited roles and became a star in hosting cricket events. We take a look back at why the actor avoided acting following the success of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.

Mandira knew that she would be typecast but went ahead anyway because it was ‘quite common’ back in the time. “Back then, things were totally different. Shanti and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge were released around the same time. Back then, women were stereotyped”, she explained in an interview with Pinkvilla.

After Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, she was offered only roles of shy girls in Bollywood, the actress shared. Mandira turned down the offers because she didn't want to perform these roles as she was portraying a strong persona on television. After DDLJ, she didn't work on any movie for a while.

So, she was portraying this extremely strong character on television. However, if she was playing someone's sister, sister-in-law or a second lead in a film, Mandira would be kind of typecast to play those kinds of characters only, the actor continued. Following her television debut in Shanti, Mandira landed the role of Preeti.

“It's fantastic to have been a part of a picture that has made movie history in many aspects”, Mandira Bedi wrote on Instagram when the film celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2020. She has changed a lot and her life has changed significantly as well.

Mandira, who was seen as one of the fitness icons out there, was most recently seen in Disney+Hotstar show Six. Her most recent film appearance was in Prabhas-Shraddha Kapoor starrer Saaho, which released in 2019.