Read how actress Bindu stood her ground on the sets of Joshila and how director Yash Chopra altered the shoot to make her comfortable.
Bollywood in the 1970s was no stranger to glamour, but Bindu’s revelation about her shoot for Yash Chopra’s romantic thriller Joshila (1973) shows just how much negotiation went into creating some most-talked about moments.
In a recent conversation with Vickey Lalwani, the actress recalled how she put ace director Yash Chopra and superstar co-star Dev Anand on pause for two solid hours over a surprise outfit.
Bindu shared that she was stunned when she reached the set and was suddenly asked to wear a bikini for a scene.
She said she stopped the shoot for almost two hours because she was not ready for it and told Yash Chopra that he had never mentioned this earlier.
Bindu explained that she only came to know about the outfit after arriving on set and immediately called her costume designer while the entire unit waited.
She shared that Yash Chopra then suggested her to stay inside the water so that the team could take only side and back shots. Her co-star Dev Anand, who was present, remained quiet during the delay, and Bindu kept wondering what he must have been thinking.
The filmmaker reassured her that they would manage and asked her not to worry.
Bindu mentioned that instead of insisting on the original plan, Yash Chopra changed the sequence to make her comfortable. She was placed in the water, and the shots were taken from there. Afterwards, she asked cinematographer Fali Mistry how the scene looked, and he told her that she looked good and not vulgar. She admitted that his words gave her confidence.
Featuring Dev Anand in a double role alongside Hema Malini, Joshila revolves around a man who is wrongly accused of murder who escapes from prison, only to get caught in a web of crime, love, and mistaken identities.
