Manoj Bajpayee, in a recent interview, spoke about why his wife Shabana Raza, professionally known as Neha, left the film industry. He also narrated an incident during the shoot for her debut film Kareeb (1998) when director Vidhu Vinod Chopra bit her hand.
Shabana worked in various other films like Hogi Pyaar Ki Jeet (1999), Fiza (2000), Rahul (2001), Aatma (2006) and Acid Factory (2009) but her career never took off. Now, speaking to mid-day, her husband revealed the reason behind her leaving films. “She didn’t quit films. She stopped getting work for some reason. Too many politics, here and there. As someone coming from outside, she really did not have any mentor," he said.
Manoj also recalled the incident from the shoot of Kareeb (1998), when Vidhu bit her hand. “Because Shabana didn’t have any film training of that sort, in the song she was raising a different hand altogether. In the scene, she was supposed to raise her left hand, but she would end up raising her right hand… so for her to raise the left hand without forgetting, Vidhu bit her there. Nobody can do this with me,” he said.
He added, “Because she was so new, she didn’t know if the action was appropriate. She thought this is the way how filmmakers behave. She must have thought they are all mad geniuses, they are capable of doing anything they want.”
Bobby Deol, who was Shabana's co-actor in the film, had also confirmed this incident in a 2001 interview with Filmfare. “For one scene, Neha had to come down the mountain and give me her left hand. But she kept getting confused. When she couldn’t get this right after repeated takes, Vidhu asked her to bite her right hand. She did but she still got it wrong in the next take. After 20 takes, Vidhu lost his cool. And you know what he did? He bit her right hand. I was too shocked to react.”
Last year, Shabana, in collaboration with her Manoj and Vikram Khakhar, launched Aurega Studios, a film production company. The studio's inaugural film was Bhaiyya Ji, which released in 2024.