Actress Shilpa Shirodkar, a familiar face in the 90s and now a Bigg Boss celebrity, recently revisited a bizarre incident from the past. During a chat with Pinkvilla, the actress recalled the time when she was falsely rumoured to have been shot dead during the filming of the 1995 action drama Raghuveer. The film starring Suniel Shetty, also featured a stellar ensemble cast, including Suresh Oberoi, Sudha Chandran, Mohnish Bahl, Aruna Irani, Gulshan Grover, and Prem Chopra.
Here’s what had happened
During the production schedule in Kullu Manali, there were shocking headlines all around, which claimed that Shirodkar had been shot dead on set. Because of this misinformation, her family, friends and everyone was in distress, especially in an era where mobile phones were not widely available or accessible. The panic increased even more when her parents happened to read the fake news in a daily publication and tried calling her, but weren’t able to reach her.
Speaking to Pinkvilla, the actress said, “I was in Kullu Manali. My dad was trying to call the hotel because we didn’t have mobile phones at that time. I was shooting with Suniel Shetty there. Everyone who was watching the shoot there kept thinking if this is Shilpa or someone else because they knew the news.”
Shilpa further added, “When I came back to the room, there were around 20-25 missed calls. My parents were worried, there was a headline in a newspaper that Shilpa Shirodkar was shot dead.”
Eventually, the confusion was cleared up by the film’s producer, who admitted that the rumour was part of a promotional stunt to attract public attention.
“When he told me, I was like ‘Okay’. Yes, thoda zyada hogaya. There was no PR activity or anything at that time. Kuch pata hi nahi tha na. I was the last one to know that something like this was going to happen. No one used to take permission at that time. The film worked well, so I wasn’t really angry,” she explained.
Shilpa Shirodkar career
On the work front, after a long break from mainstream cinema, Shirodkar is making her comeback to the big screen with the pan-India supernatural thriller, Jatadhara. Featuring Sudheer Babu in the lead, the film revolves around the mysterious lore of the sacred Anantha Padmanabha Swamy Temple. Jatadhara also stars Sonakshi Sinha, who is making her debut in a Telugu-Hindi bilingual project.