Mandakini says she was never paid for 16-17 early films, recalls ‘homely’ yet unfair Bollywood sets

Veteran actor Mandakini has opened up about working in the Hindi film industry during the early years of her career, remembering a time when film sets felt more like close-knit gatherings than formal workplaces. She also revealed that she was never paid for around 16 to 17 films she worked on.

In an interview with ANI, the Ram Teri Ganga Maili actor recalled the camaraderie she shared with colleagues and described the atmosphere on sets as warm, informal and “homely”.

“I enjoyed the movies a lot. They were all very nice. They were all very cooperative. And it was a fun atmosphere and very homely,” Mandakini said.

Mandakini said she would sometimes agree to work without demanding a fee, particularly when filmmakers or colleagues asked her to help out for a short period.

“They used to request you to do a 15-day work, and I used to say, ‘Okay, no problem’,” she said when asked whether she had ever acted without charging.

While she said she ultimately received payment for most of her projects, there were a significant number of films for which she never received any money.

“I used to get paid, ultimately, but there were 16 to 17 movies which I never got paid for,” Mandakini revealed.

She said the reasons varied. Some projects were never completed or released, while in other cases, a portion of the agreed payment remained outstanding.

“There was a divide between the three films. So, one film was released, and the last two were not released. Or the last payment was not released. So, there were a lot of such cases,” she explained.

For Mandakini, the memories of that period therefore include both sides of an industry that operated very differently from today's more formalised film business: an environment she remembers as unusually close-knit, but where informal agreements could also leave actors waiting for money they were owed.