Juhi Chawla admits: I did not do couple of films which then became blockbusters

Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Bol Radha Bol, Darr, Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke, Yes Boss, Ishq and Duplicate, all these movie titles are synonymous with the enigmatic charisma of Bollywood actress Juhi Chawla. The 46-year-old lady, who is marking a huge comeback with Gulaab Gang as a villain, has revealed that she rejected a lot of big offers at the peak time of her career as she thought the Hindi film industry couldn’t continue without her.

She confessed, "When you were at your peak, you stop taking chances, you become indispensable and think that without you the industry will shut down as you are young and successful. You make foolish decisions. I did not do couple of films which then became blockbusters.” These blockbusters include Raja Hindustani, Dil Toh Pagal Hai and Judaai. She also said, "It is all in the past, so it is ok to talk about it and you learnt from it. I think most of them were two heroine projects, so I did not do it. I am responsible for Karisma Kapoor's stardom and she doesn't know about it.” When asked if she repents about her past decisions she said, "At that time I was still working and I had project after project. Now when I look back, I can see that I was doing silly thing, but that was the phase I was in and you end up doing all these things (rejecting films)."

The dynamic actress is all set to prove her versatility now through experimenting new characters, though playing it safe as she said, "I still play safe somewhere. I do roles and films within certain parameters. This ('Gulaab Gang') was something new and different to me, but I enjoyed it.” Juhi also revealed, "It ('Gulaab Gang') had fiery dialogues. The character is mean, manipulative, little quirky, I had not done something like this before. I was sure people will not believe me as I am not like that character.” "I asked them to rewrite the script, they changed a few things, like they gave a reason for my character to be this way, but the whole zing of the character went and I felt we had killed the film. So we went with what was written initially," the actress added further. When asked if she feels competition from her contemporaries like Karisma Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit she said, "Now there is no such competition as such. I am amazed to see them around now. I worked with Manisha Koirala in 'I AM' and it was great. I never thought we would meet and be there in the industry even after so many years. I feel something has not changed as they are around even as the rest of the crop of personalities like directors, producers, etc have changed. But few of them are here and I am happy about it.”