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This actress alleged that a well-known producer pressured her to have dinners with distributors and 'compromise' for a successful career. Published: November 22, 2024 9:26 AM IST By Edited by established herself as a versatile television and film actress. She is know for working over 30 years in 31 television shows across various genres.
To date, she is renowned for her role as Dr Simran Mathur in the Hindi TV series Astitva...
Ek Prem Kahani on Zee TV. Moreover, she also had a significant film career. She has worked with superstars like Anil Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Shahid Kapoor and among others.
She was offered the lead role in Yes Boss, opposite Shah Rukh Khan. But, she left film when the shooting began. Recently, Niki is grabbing all the headlines for her serious allegations against a famous producer Pahlaj Nihalani.
Recalling working on her debut film Mr Azaad (1994), which also had Anil Kapoor in the lead role, she revealed that she was mentally tortured on the sets. She alleged that Nihalani asked her to have dinners with the distributors and ‘compromise’. Recently, in an interview with Siddharth Kanan, Niki told, “I felt very uncomfortable.
I wasn’t treated nicely during Azaad. Newcomer aside, I realised there is more to acting than what people said. Ye jo casting couch hai, ‘Compromise kar lo kya problem hai.
.. aapki journey jaldi ho jayegi.
..’ when people talk about these things around you, I don’t resonate with them.
I want to wake up and respect who I see in the mirror. Whatever I learnt technically during that shoot is my wealth but what I learnt on the outside of shoot, during rehearsals and promotions, I understood that all these things I can’t do. I was only 19 at that time.
” When Niki confronted Nihalani, he tried to justify his action by saying it is important for a producer to sell his movie to distributors, “I actually went and told Pahlaj ji why do you take me for these dinners...
And he told me ‘Picture nahi bechni hai kya?’ I remember asking just one thing to him, ‘Anil Kapoor ko sign kar ke aap picture nahi bech sakte kya?’ From that day, I became infamous on the sets. It was not pleasant for me. It was then I decided I will not do films after Yes Boss, because I had signed the film by then.
But Shah Rukh Khan was the opposite and Ratan ji’s set was very different,” the actress added. She also revealed that several people taunted her and started to respect her on sets. Few told her ‘aap toh film bech logi.
’ However, Niki never compromised and added that she has no regrets. Many people are unaware that Niki Aneja has a special connection with Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen. She was a judge for Femina Miss India 1994 which led to the win for Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Miss Universe Sushmita Sen.
Also, Niki is cousin of actor Parmeet Sethi. She has been married to Sonny Walia since February 2022. For breaking news and live news updates, like us on or follow us on and .
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