Niki Aneja is best known for her work in Hindi films and television serials. She has juggled several career paths and has worked as a model, compere, VJ, host, and actress. Her acting career spans nearly three decades, during which time she has performed in various serials across all genres.
Actress, Niki Aneja Walia, who made her acting debut as 'Inspector Shalu' in T. Rama Rao's 1994 film, Mr. Azaad, has made massive allegations against producer, Pahlaj Nihalani. In a recent interview with podcast host, Siddharth Kannan, the actress recalled working on her debut film, Mr. Azaad, starring Anil Kapoor as the lead. Niki claimed that she was mentally exploited on the set of the movie and alleged that Nihalani asked her to have dinners with the distributors and pushed her to 'compromise'. She shared:
"I felt very uncomfortable. I wasn’t treated nicely during Azaad. Newcomer aside, I realised there is more to acting than what people said. Ye jo casting couch hai, 'Compromise kar lo kya problem hai… aapki journey jaldi ho jayegi…' when people talk about these things around you, I don’t resonate with them. I want to wake up and respect who I see in the mirror. Whatever I learnt technically during that shoot is my wealth but what I learnt on the outside of shoot, during rehearsals and promotions, I understood that all these things I can’t do. I was only 19 at that time."
Niki Aneja shared that she even tried confronting Nihalani about this, to which he justified himself by saying that it is important to sell a movie to distributors. She further shared that when she refused, her experience on the set became unpleasant. Niki revealed that it was because of this that she had decided she wouldn't do any films after Yes Boss, which she had already signed. However, her experience with Shah Rukh Khan and Ratan Jain changed her decision.
"I actually went and told Pahlaj ji why do you take me for these dinners and he told me 'Picture nahi bechni hai kya?' I remember asking just one thing to him, 'Anil Kapoor ko sign kar ke aap picture nahi bech sakte kya?' From that day, I became infamous on the sets. It was not pleasant for me. It was then I decided I will not do films after Yes Boss, because I had signed the film by then. But Shah Rukh Khan was the opposite and Ratan ji’s set was very different."
Click here to watch the full interview.
Niki Aeja revealed that after the incident, she was ill-treated, and people would constantly disrespect her on sets. In the same conversation, Niki added that people would taunt her because she refused to compromise. However, Niki shared that despite the ill-treatment and taunts, she never compromised and has no regrets about it.
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