‘You are a shit actress!’

When the famous Indian filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra after seeing her on the screen said, "You are a shit actress!” she was heart-broken. For the moment, she could only manage asking him to give her a chance again.

The actress rehearsed for the whole night that day and "had repeated the dialogue several thousand times. I didn't eat, didn’t sleep and my mom got anxious. Before this, I never could realise I could work so hard for a character and also for only a few dialogues".

Her perseverance did not go astray. The next day, Vidhu took the audition again and said "You had been zero yesterday and today you just scored over a hundred."

Both the Chopra movie, '1942: A Love Story' and her character in it were a grand success.

This is Manisha Koirala.

The renowned Nepal born Bollywood actress recently talked with Prothom Alo during her visit to the Dhaka Lit Fest 2018. She appeared in a number of box office hits made by Bollywood giants. Mani Ratnam’s 'Bombay', 'Dil Se', Mansoor Khan’s 'Akele Hum Akele Tum', Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 'Khamoshi' are a few.

Before '1942: A Love Story', she starred in several commercial films that made her feel like a 'plastic actress', she said.

What was the secret of success? She said "There is no secret other than hard work. Professions vary, but, what is common everywhere is 'hard work'".

She talked about her condition when diagnosed with stage-three ovarian cancer. Separated, with a declining career, dejected--she spent the night alone in a Nepalese hotel after learning about the diagnosis, on 10 December 2012.

In a conversation as a speaker at the Lit Fest's 'Healed' session, Manisha talked about her fight with the deadly ailment. She first went to Mumbai and then to New York. It took time for her to accept that she could never become a mother.

"I am passing the best days of my life leaving behind mistakes and unhealthy times," she said adding "I'll think about a companion only when I feel the need and also have found someone like-minded. I’m also considering adopting a baby girl, but nothing is finalised yet."

Manisha's latest work has been the character of Nargis in Rajkumar Hirani's biopic 'Sanju'. Nargis, a famous Indian actress, died of cancer. For the role, she had to portray the six years' struggle that she wanted to forget, "It was a difficult decision...didn't want to return to the painful times. But my filmmaker gave me the confidence saying this was acting. Not everyone gets the chance to observe death so closely, to learn from it and to show it on the screen. It was an artist's duty."

Manisha has acted in one Bengali film, Rituparno Ghosh's 'Khela' (Game), so far. "I’m fortunate that I had the chance. Moreover, it was with Rituparno. We were supposed to do more work together, but couldn't. When undergoing treatment, I was not sure whether I would survive or not--I was looking for a ray of hope in everything, everyone. It was then, I heard he passed away, I was so devastated."

"I want to play in Bangla film again. If I get the opportunity, a good script, I will come to Bangladesh again to act," concludes Manisha.

*This piece, originally published in Prothom Alo print edition, has been rewritten in English by Nusrat Nowrin.