Pooja Bhatt: I couldn’t sell ‘Dushman’ without a male actor

Pooja recalls back then she would have found it tough to release the film unless she had a male star to be a part of the cast. The film starring Kajol in a double role also had Sanjay Dutt in a pivotal role.

Mumbai: While we get to see multiple women-centric films and web projects nowadays, this was not the case when actress-filmmaker Pooja Bhatt co-produced “Dushman” back in 1998.

Pooja recalls back then she would have found it tough to release the film unless she had a male star to be a part of the cast. The film starring Kajol in a double role also had Sanjay Dutt in a pivotal role.

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“Tragically when I had Kajol who did ‘Dushman’, I couldn’t sell the film until I had a male star of a certain calibre. A lot of male actor didn’t want to do it because it was a female-oriented film and she pulls the trigger at the end. Then, Sanjay Dutt came on board because of my personal equation with him. He even accepted a very reasonable amount of money for it,” she told IANS.

However, Pooja, who is part of the new web show “Bombay Begums”, says things have changed.

“Today there are so many women writers, filmmakers who are decisions makers. Women are in key positions today. This is why you can get a show like Bombay Begums made the way it should be and not in an apologetic way. Everyone has put their heart and soul into it because there is a belief behind it. It’s good to know that there are more women who are calling the shots now,” she says.