If not for Ashok Mehta, I would have let go of Bombay: Manisha Koirala

Recalling how she was so close to losing the opportunity to star in Mani Ratnam's Bombay, Manisha Koirala said she would have rejected the film due to the then Bollywood stereotypes and myths.

The actress while speaking to India Today said that there was a taboo prevailing back then in Bollywood that if a young heroine plays a mother she would be typecasted and only be offered supporting and mother roles. She added this was what her manager and her industry friends told which created apprehensions.

She said if it was not for the late cinematographer Ashok Mehta, she would have lost the opportunity to work with Mani Ratnam as it was him who prodded her saying this was a silly reason for her to reject working with the legend. "Big deal, please go ahead and do it. You should be lucky he’s offered you a film. You should see the kind of movies he makes," she said she was told by Mehta.

She went on to agree to be a part of the film, which later became a timeless classic both for its narration and music.

Manisha, a few years then on, played the leading lady in the director's Dil Se opposite Shah Rukh Khan.