Actor Daisy Shah recently spoke about her experience working as a background dancer in the film Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein before making her Bollywood acting debut opposite Salman Khan in Jai Ho in 2014. During an interview with Bollywood Bubble, Daisy shared memories from the shoot and explained how film sets functioned very differently at that time compared to today.
Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein released in 2001 and marked the Bollywood debut of Dia Mirza and R Madhavan. Over the years, the romantic drama has gained a strong fan following because of its music, performances and emotional story.
Daisy recalled that the team had travelled to South Africa for one of the shooting schedules. She said that during those days, even lead actors did not have vanity vans on outdoor shoots. According to her, actors and dancers had to adjust with limited facilities while filming.
Sharing one memory from the shoot, Daisy said, “I remember, Dia once had to change her costume during a song so she had to go to a mall to change her outfit. We didn’t have vanity vans. Even the main actors didn’t have them, let alone the dancers, and even the celebrities didn’t have vans at that point. They would look for nearby malls and change there. Or we would be sitting in a restaurant and they would be doing their makeup there, and we would be doing it there too. That’s how things worked then.”
She also spoke about the weather conditions during the South Africa schedule and said the team faced extreme cold while shooting outdoors. Daisy remembered that the background dancers would stand close to the shooting lights between takes just to stay warm.
Talking about how the production team handled the situation, she said, “When we would be asked to go for the shot, we would be freezing. But the good part was that the makers did not ignore us. The next day, they got body suits to wear under our costumes so we don’t feel cold.”
Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein was the Hindi remake of director Gautham Vasudev Menon’s Tamil film Minnale. Apart from R Madhavan and Dia Mirza, the film also featured Saif Ali Khan and Anupam Kher in important roles.