Mahima Chaudhry recalls her horrific road accident and how a director once started rumour of Ajay Devgn being in love with her!

New Delhi: Actress Mahima Chaudhry made a sensational entry into Bollywood in the 1997 release Pardes. Directed by Subhash Ghai, the film was a huge hit starring Shah Rukh Khan and Apurva Agnihotri in the lead roles. Mahima became an overnight star. 

After reaching the heights of stardom, Mahima Chaudhry met with an untoward accident that changed her life. In an interview with Bollywood Bubble, Mahima opened up on her horrific road accident. She said, "It was the last day of the shoot in Banglore, and I was going to the school where the shoot was. It was early morning, normally you get staff to be in the car ahead of you or behind you. I was ready at 5.30 am and I was supposed to be there at 7 am. I told my staff to leave before me, otherwise, people will think I’m not ready. But, my mother asked ‘Why can’t you go if you’re ready?’ Then I sat in the car and left, but by that time, my staff had already left."

"A dhood wala truck was coming from the wrong side, we were going roundabout. So, the truck came and smashed my car in the roundabout. The truck came and rammed into me, so, the glass came like bullets and splinters into my face all over. The pieces of glass did not hit me anywhere else, I did not break my bones. It was only my face."

Adding more, she said, "That is the only time I saw my father cry, who came a day after the surgery was done. It is after the surgery that the devastation shows and the swelling happens. My dad just sat next to me and took a deep sigh. My dad is very strong, and I’m more close to him. But this time he just sat and he couldn’t hold it. He said, ‘Sirf chehre pe laga hai. Why her?” 

Mahima Chaudhry also praised her co-star Ajay Devgn and Kajol. "Ajay and Kajol, who were the producers, sought that nobody came to know about it, because at that time, it would have devastated my career. I thought I would never make a comeback, it would never heal, and I would never look normal. But Ajay was like I get scars like this all the time. I was like he is being nice because he does not want me to lose heart. But, actually, he was right. He was a very generous producer, he looked after everything."

Talking about her struggle to make a comeback after the traumatic accident, Mahima Chaudhry said, "The first time when I faced the camera, it was another guest appearance with Ajay in another film and that director was not aware. I very gently told him, can you just do long shots, and he agreed. I was hiding the left side of my face as it was hurt. And when I was giving long shots, suddenly, he just kept bringing the camera closer and closer. It’s one of the things that stays with you and you can imagine if I’m still hurting what it felt it, and I couldn’t keep a straight face back then." 

Ajay Devgn noticed her discomfort and asked, “You’re not ready?’, and Mahima said no. The actress added that Ajay told everyone to just let me be. Then he told the director, ‘Why? She is just getting off this accident, it's ok things can wait.’ So the director said that the set will have to be dismantled and Ajay said 'ok'.”

"I remember post that, the director went and told everyone that Ajay Devgn is in love with me and there were rumours in the magazines that I was seeing Ajay Devgn. That made me even more uncomfortable. He had just gotten married sometime back when we were doing Dil Kya Kare and that film was not even complete when they got married."

Mahima Chaudhry worked with Ajay Devgn in 'Dil Kya Kare' which starred Kajol as well. It released in 1999.