Key Points

On Wednesday, the actress took to her Instagram, and shared a video with a mobile phone brand, and shared how after the screening of her debut movie ‘Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi’, many established names of the film fraternity formed a bee line to complement her work in the film, and also spoke how she has a striking resemblance to the late actress.

In the video, Chitrangada said, “My first film, ‘Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi’, first screening, it was the first time that I saw myself on the big screen. After the screening, Ketan Mehta, the director, who's done so much work with Smita ji, walked up to me and he had tears in his eyes and he said, ‘Today, it almost felt like I saw Smita on screen’”.

“It's just the best compliment of my life. In fact, I remember even Shekhar Kapur mentioned the same thing. Naseeruddin Shah sir said the same thing. So a lot of people have told me this over the years. And I think I feel so grateful and scared at the same time that I get compared to someone like her”.

The actress recreated one of Smita’s old pictures, as she spoke about the brand collaboration.

Earlier, the actress spoke with IANS, and revealed how she got the part in the film, which marked her foray into Hindi cinema.

She earlier told IANS, “I have not studied acting. I have never done theatre, or anything. It actually was the best coincidence of my life I suppose that I got discovered. I was modeling in Delhi. Director Sudhir Mishra was looking for this girl Geeta Rao (her character in ‘Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi’) and they hadn't found one. Lyricist Swanand Kirkire, who at that time was Sudhir’s assistant, was doing all the auditions. I owe him a lot for working with me and making me give a good audition. So that's how it started”.

She further mentioned that during the shoot, she felt very lost as her fellow actors like Kay Kay Menon would talk about emotional graphs and characterization. She being from no acting background felt very out of place on a set which was buzzing with cinema both in terms of language and technicalities.

“I told Sudhir one day, ‘I don't know what to do’. And, he said, ‘That’s the best thing because all you will do in the scene is react. I don't want you to act’. It was such a beautiful thing. I just hung on to that one line and was like, ‘Oka, so there is nothing missing in me. There is nothing that I am lacking’”, she added.

- IANS