EXCLUSIVE: Malaika Arora shares she was shocked to see only male stars performing at WPL 2024’s opening ceremony

The exclusive conversation was joined by former Indian Test cricketer Diana Edulji, Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, CEO Radhika Gupta, actors Rupali Ganguly, Sushant Divgikar, Malaika Arora and Manisha Koirala. During the chat, Manisha revealed breaking the stereotype and getting female artists to do her makeup on film sets.

Manisha Koirala says she got female makeup artists in the Hindi film industry

During the fun chat where all these women spoke about the representation of women in their fields, veteran actress Manisha Koirala recalled that when she was shooting for her film Mann, there used to be this unsaid rule that her makeup person had to be male, and the hairdresser had to be female.

“They could not change it, and I found that so appalling. So, I insisted on getting a female makeup artist. I think that was just one of those I put my foot down, but very quietly. I just got it done, and after that, I started seeing trends of a lot of women coming forward and doing the makeup. But these were certain rules which were so bizarre,” she divulged.

Malaika also supported her, saying, “I remember that. If you had a female makeup artist, they (the association) would do these surprise checks. They would come and take away your card, and these poor women would just suddenly start masquerading around with a comb or a tong, pretending that they were doing and not makeup. It was just bizarre, but eventually, with time, someone had to break that to take things forward.”

Malaika Arora reacts to men performing at Women’s Premier League’s opening night

Further on in the interview with us, Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi shared how the space is still male-dominated and that society is still patriarchal. While she was quick to agree on that, Chaturvedi also shared that she, along with others on the panel, was just discussing the opening of the Women’s Premier League, where all men were performing. To this, Malaika Arora reacted, “I was shocked by it.”

Manisha Koirala reveals she was once told that she was bad at acting

Manisha Koirala is today known as one of the most talented artists in the industry. But there was a time when she was told she couldn’t act. Recalling the incident, she said, “There was an incident during 1942: A Love Story. During my first reading of the scene, I was horrible, and Vidhu Vinod Chopra clearly told me, ‘You are very bad.’ So, I requested him to give me 24 hours. If, even then, you don’t find me good, I’ll accept it.”

She further added, “But then, I went home. I didn’t know what was good acting or bad acting; this was my third or fourth film. I had only 3-4 sheets in my hand, and I read them countless times. I went back, did the screen test again, and, of course, I was accepted.”

The Company actress also shared how she stepped into the world of acting. “I was way too young to think that it will be my profession. But yes, I would love cinema, I would go with family and when I decided to go into films, there was a Nepali film so nobody really minded it but when I said it’s going to be Mumbai film industry, then there were red flags from everybody saying ‘No. How can a Koirala family girl become an actress?’ But it was my grandmother who told me, ‘Whichever profession you take, just make us proud.’ She was the head of the family, and nobody could say no to her and, I got it, and I honestly had no clue I would last this long. I just fell in love with this profession and continue to love it.”

Manisha Koirala reveals she was once told ‘you are very bad’ at acting; here’s what happened next

Malaika Arora shares she was shocked to see only male stars performing at WPL 2024’s opening ceremony