Sooraj Barjatya’s ‘Hum Aapke Hai Koun…’ is one of the most memorable movies of Hindi cinema. However, the audience is still heartbroken every time Renuka Shahane’s character Pooja dies in the film. People get emotional every time they see the film. In a recent interview, Renuka has revealed how the atmosphere was during her funeral scene in the film. She was present on the set that time.
During this scene, every cast member was sitting in front of her photo and crying. But Renuka was present on the set when this was being shot. She recalled in an interview with Filme Shilmy, “Everyone was there and they were very very serious and I went to the set to see how the shoot is going and I was just smiling and watching the whole thing, watching everyone cry their hearts out. When they saw me, they were like ‘she is sitting here and laughing at us.’ They shooed me away that ‘you go away from the set, we are trying to do our job.’”
She further added that Reema Lagoo whol played her mom in the movie was extremely upset when Pooja dies in the hospital. “After the scene in the hospital, when Pooja passes away, Reema Lagoo was inconsolable. This affected her so deeply. It took her quite some time to come back to normal and to accept the fact that this is a character and this character has died,” she said.
However, after Hum Aapke Hai Koun, Renuka was also stereotyped in the ‘bhabhi’ roles. She revealed, “People who cast actors could never think I could ever play anything with grey shades or anything which was unkind. So in that sense, it was very restrictive because as an actor I would like to play all sorts of characters,” she said, adding, “The impact of that role was so big that even the roles that I got on television were pretty much of girls who were relatable, who were very much part of Indian value system. The roles that came to me did not go beyond that. But to tell you frankly, I didn’t mind being typecast.”