Mahima Chaudhry on challenges she has faced in life, being a single parent – bollywood

Actor Mahima Chaudhry made her Bollywood debut in Pardes (1997) opposite Shah Rukh Khan and immediately made a splash with her beauty. Soon, she was working with leading names in the industry till a freak accident in Bengaluru changed her life.

Mahima retired from films post her marriage to architect Bobby Mukherjee in 2006. They reportedly separated in 2013 and have a daughter Ariana together. The actor, who has been on a sabbatical since 2010, spoke to Pinkvilla about being a single mom.

Speaking about why she took a break and why she is not seen much onscreen, she said: “Frankly, there isn’t anything coming my way. That is much of it. I have been keeping myself busy with events, live events, promotions, and of course, you have a child to raise and it takes an entire village to raise one, and I am a single parent.”

Talking about raising her daughter, she said, “I came back and started living with my parents and you depend a lot on your parents. That was the time when my mother was diagnosed with an illness; she needed help and she could not be of that great help for raising my child. So, when I left for work, it was like leaving a toddler, and leaving my mother who needed assistance as well, so I had to completely depend on my staff. My dad had to live in Darjeeling. Then I had a sister who had a child too and she was single. So, it almost became like we both were raising children together.”

In the same interview, she had spoken about her Bengaluru accident too when glass shards had pierced her face. She said: “I was working for Ajay Devgn and Kajol’s home production film Dil Kya Kare with Prakash Jha. During that, in Bengaluru, while on my way to the studio, I had a massive accident where a truck hit my car, and the glass of my car went into my face mostly. I thought I was dying, and at that point, no one even helped me get to the hospital. It is only after reaching the hospital, much later, when my mother came, Ajay came and they went to discuss. I got up and saw my face in the mirror and saw the horror. When they did the surgery on me, they took out 67 glass pieces.”

Also read: Chiranjeevi Sarja funeral: Wife Meghana Raj breaks down, Yash and Kiccha Sudeep pay their last respects

Though Mahima has stayed away from arc lights, she is a keen observer of developments in the industry. In 2013, speaking to Hindustan Times, she had noted, “The biggest change is that production has become organised, there is proper funding. It is more secure. Earlier, some people used to put in their money and if the money is not enough, it would go down the drain. The second installment used to take a lot of time.” She had added how organised funding helped in planning “a film of any scale and you can even finish it in one or two months and release it”.

Follow @htshowbiz for more