Veteran actor Mandakini recalled her experience of working with legendary actor-filmmaker Raj Kapoor in Ram Teri Ganga Maili and described what went behind the infamously famous waterfall and breastfeeding scenes.
Shot at the age of 16, Mandakini didn't realise that how this scene would be perceived later.
Addressing the most-talked about waterfall scene in the song Tujhe Bulayen Yeh Meri Bahen, where she was dressed in a translucent white saree while bathing in the waterfall, Mandakini told ANI she didn't feel uncomfortable while shooting the scene.
"Unka tarika aesa tha ki aap unse koi sawaal hi nahi karte the..itna pyar se itna gentle jaise aapka family member aapse karwa raha ho...(He had such a gentle and affectionate way of doing things that you would not even question him, as if a family member was guiding you through it.) I didn't feel any vulgarity from anywhere. There was no disgusting feeling at all. The whole movie was that there is no purity. They wanted to make her (Ganga) impure. But they didn't succeed," Mandakini said.
She added, "He (Raj Kapoor) was in front of me...thoda sa mujhe laga to maine saree ko double kar liya..unhone kaha double kar lo to maine kar liya..bas ho gaya vo shot. It was a big thing for me. Because coming from a very small place."
'There was no breastfeeding'
Mandakini also addressed the famous breastfeeding scene and said it was just the camera angle which did the job and there was no actual breastfeeding scene.
"No, there was no breastfeeding. They had picturised it so well. It's very difficult for me to explain you now. But if I explain you how it was done, you will understand," she said.
She went on to explain that she was wore a low-cut outfit and while she was holding the baby close to her body, she was not actually breastfeeding. The camera angles gave the viewers the impression that she was breastfeeding.
"Yes, I had a baby and I held it tightly... But it wasn't breastfeeding. That's what I want to tell everyone," she said.
Ram Teri Ganga Maili was released on 16 August 1985. The film was the highest-grossing Indian film of the year, which Box Office India classified as an "All-Time Blockbuster". It was also one of the highest-grossing Indian films of the 1980s, alongside Kranti (1981) and Maine Pyar Kiya (1989).
The film won five Filmfare Awards. The film generated controversy because of Mandakini's scenes of breastfeeding and bathing in a translucent saree. The film still received a U (Universal) certificate from the Indian Film Certification Board, which was later amended to U/A.
