Rani Mukerji Felt She Was Too 'Short', Didn't Have 'Heroine Friendly' Voice To Be In Movies; Kamal Haasan Taught Her A Lesson

Rani Mukerji is a multi-faceted actress. There is nothing that this lady cannot do - from showing off her vulnerable, romantic side in Saathiya to her grit and resilience in Black to her comic timing in Bunty Aur Babli, Rani has enthralled the audience every time she's come on screen. She truly is the Rani - Queen - of Bollywood. But, did you know she, like many other women, made major body-image issues and insecurities when she first started off in Bollywood? It was Kamal Haasan who taught her a lesson so invaluable that it changed the course of her career. On Rani Mukerji's 45th birthday today, March 21, a throwback to what she had said about being "quite short", not having a "heroine-friendly" voice and her "wheatish" complexion.

In an old interview at the time Mrs Chatterjee VS Norway's release, Rani Mukerji had said, "Strangely, I never wanted to be an actor. My mother realised my dream before I could. She was the one who insisted I do my first film. But I never thought I fit into the heroine category in the typical sense. I am actually the opposite of a heroine. I am quite short in height, my voice is not heroine-friendly, the complexion of my skin is wheatish."

Talking about what constituted the quintessential Bollywood heroine, Rani had added, "I grew up watching Sridevi, Juhi, Madhuri and Rekha ji, who were these screen goddesses and I never imagined myself up there with them."

But it was something that legendary actor Kamal Haasan told her that changed her outlook. In the same interview, Rani goes on to add, "As my journey began, I spoke to many stalwarts with whom I had the opportunity to work. One of them was Mr Kamal Haasan and actors like him told me that you can’t measure your success by the height of your physical standing, but by the heights of how much you can grow professionally. So I sort of broke all those stereotypical conventions that an actress was put into in my initial days of Bollywood journey."

Kamal Haasan and Rani Mukerji have worked together in the critically acclaimed Hey Ram, which also had a cameo by Shah Rukh Khan. Rani was last seen in Mrs Chatterjee VS Norway. Kamal Haasan on the other hand, will soon be seen in Kalki 2898 AD, Indian 2 and Thug Life.