Madhoo shares why she did not give credit to Mani Ratnam for Roja: ‘I should have told him at that time’

Roja was a Tamil-language romantic thriller film written and directed by Mani Ratnam. The 1992 release also starred Arvind Swamy.

Even after three decades, fans still remember Madhoo for her turn in Mani Ratnam's Roja. In a new interview with Siddharth Kannan on his YouTube channel, the actor recalled working on the film and said that she initially did not credit Mani Ratnam for the film's success. (Also read: Mani Ratnam talks about going pan-Indian with Ponniyin Selvan franchise: 'Not a trap but a choice')

Madhoo talked about not crediting Mani Ratnam for Roja's success.

What Madhoo said

In the interview Madhoo talked about the film's impact and said: “It started bugging me that I am doing so much work but still people are talking about that one film. I tried really hard to up myself at that time. Roja is now my god's gift… and now people still talk about Roja. It is still epic. I have become so grateful and humble.”

‘I refused to give credit to anybody’

Speaking about not working with Mani Ratnam again after Iruvar, Madhoo then added how she did realize her initial mistake: “Mani sir might have felt a bond with different artists and I tried to reach out many times. I sent messages. I am very fond of him. I didn’t feel Mani sir did me a favour. ‘Mani sir wanted to make Roja, he found his Roja in me. What’s so special about that?’ This was my attitude… There was an element of ‘I’. I did it all. I refused to give credit to anybody. Mani sir deserves the credit. He was the head of the crew, experienced and a genius. I should have told him, at that time…wow Mani Sir, you gave me an identity."

Madhoo had made her Bollywood debut with Phool Aur Kaante opposite Ajay Devgn in 1991. She has worked in several languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada.

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