Rani Mukerji’s mother, playback singer Krishna Mukerji, died on September 22 at the age of 75. While the exact reason isn’t known, the actor’s team has requested privacy for the family at the moment.
The National Award-winning actress has always credited her parents for her career in acting. However, during a throwback interview, Rani had shared that her mother wanted the producers of her Bollywood debut film, Raja Ki Aayegi Baaraat, to drop her from the film. She had thought that her daughter’s screen test was “bad”.
Rani Mukerji’s mother once wanted her to be dropped from her Hindi debut film
Rani has often spoken about how her parents supported her decision to pursue acting. However, when she was preparing for her debut in Raja Ki Aayegi Baaraat, her mother Krishna Mukerji was initially unsure about her daughter’s acting abilities.
Rani had recalled that after watching her first screen test, Krishna felt she was not good enough and even advised the film’s producer against casting her. “So for my mother, it was like you do it and see how it goes. Though after my first screen test, she found me so bad that she told the producer ‘I think you’ll ruin your film by taking my daughter. You’ll go through losses. Better you don’t take her’. Because the producer was very keen to sign me, Salim uncle (Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat producer)….But my mom was smart enough to understand that I was not doing a good job. So she was like, ‘I don’t think you should take her’,” she had once told ANI.
About Krishna Mukerji
Krishna Mukerji was a playback singer who largely stayed away from the limelight. She was best known for lending her voice to Idd Ke Din Gale Mil Le Raja from the 1982 film Teesri Aankh. She would occasionally be seen during Durga Puja celebrations at the Mukerji household and at other family functions. Krishna also played an important role in encouraging Rani Mukerji to pursue acting.
Rani’s father, Ram Mukherjee, was a filmmaker, producer and screenwriter and one of the co-founders of Filmalaya Studios. He directed films such as Hum Hindustani (1960) and Leader (1964). He also directed Rani in her first-ever acting debut, Bengali film Biyer Phool (1996), which became a superhit. Ram Mukherjee passed away on October 22, 2017, at the age of 84.
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Mithu Mukherjee, veteran Bengali actress, dies at 71; Prosenjit Chatterjee offers condolences
