Sonali Bendre enjoyed a massive fan following in the ’90s and early 2000s. Known for her stunning looks and captivating screen presence, she became one of the most admired female actors in Bollywood. Her grace and charm made her a favourite among audiences and critics alike even as her ability to portray a wide range of characters with elegance and poise endeared her to fans across the country. In a recent conversation with Mid-Day’s for The Bombay Film Podcast, the Duplicate actor was asked if she was aware of an incident involving a fan’s death in Bhopal where a young man tragically jumped into one of the city’s lakes after failing to see Sonali during her visit to the town. Sonali, who was visibly taken aback and could hardly believe that someone would go to such lengths for an on-screen personality, reacted, “Yeh sach hai? (Is it true?). How can someone…” ALSO READ Mithun Chakraborty: The superstar of the masses was once ridiculed for his skin colour, called ‘gareebon ka Amitabh’ Recounting the time when she would receive fan mails, a phenomenon common in the ’90s, she added, “There’d be fan mails. We wondered to test if it was in actual blood. I’d be shattered if it was. Best to appreciate, and leave it at that. How can people place humans on such a pedestal, that they’ll fall from, anyway?” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sonali Bendre (@iamsonalibendre) Reflecting on fan culture and the intense obsession with Bollywood stars, Sonali shared that she couldn’t understand that kind of “obsession for somebody” expressing her inability to comprehend how anyone could place a human being on such a high pedestal, believing that the person will inevitably fall from it. This is why she said, “I could never put somebody up on a pedestal to that extent.” ALSO READ When Sonakshi Sinha revealed her father Shatrughan Sinha didn’t want her to get married: ‘Mom sometimes hints abhi toh time hogaya’ Sonali was a teenager when began her career in modelling before transitioning to acting. At 19, she made her film debut in 1994 with the film Aag, and quickly rose to fame with notable performances in movies such as Diljale (1996), Sarfarosh (1999), and Hum Saath-Saath Hain (1999). Even after attaining success and fame at a young age, the actor credits her parents for keeping her grounded. Her upbringing, which involved moving from city to city, made her constantly break into new groups of people in school. “You’re used to being alone. You’re used to being by yourself. You’re used to being in a room where people are friends, but you don’t know them. That kind of peer pressure and wanting to be accepted can make you do a lot of things. But because of that kind of upbringing, I was okay to take my time, open my book, read, and get to know people slowly. And I think that kind of kept me grounded. I was not opening up to people because I just needed to be with people,” she added. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sonali Bendre (@iamsonalibendre) Sonali, who was last seen in the second season of Broken News, in a recent interview with The Indian Express, opened up about how the industry has drastically changed since the ’90s when she first started out as an actor. Sonali said, “The industry has changed drastically. The ’90s was a time when only certain kinds of stories could be told because you needed to fill the single screen. Your film needed to have everything – drama, action, item number, etc. That left very little room for different kinds of storytelling. Then multiplexes came in and we were all so excited that different kinds of stories could be told. Now it is OTT where there are no restrictions on the kind of stories that can be told. It’s amazing.”
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