Mahima Chaudhry made her debut alongside Shah Rukh Khan in Subhash Ghai’s ‘Pardes’. While she was launched by Ghai and was his find, she also went through a lot of tough experiences as he bullied her after the film. An interview of Mahima has resurfaced where she spoke about how Ghai told producers not to cast her. So much so, that Ghai had given an ad in a trade magazine in the late 90s that if anyone wants to work with Mahima then they should contact him.
The actress recalled how he troubled her and told Bollywood Hungama, “I was bullied by Mr. Subhash Ghai. He even took me to the court and wanted me to cancel my first show. It was quite stressful. He sent a message to all the producers that nobody should work with me! If you pick up one of the issues of Trade Guide magazine in 1998 or 1999, there was an ad that he had given which stated that if anybody wanted to work with me, that person would have to contact him. Otherwise, it would be a breach of contract. However, there was no such contract which said that I had to seek his permission.”
Mahima also spoke about how she was to star in ‘Satya’ and was replaced by Urmila Matondkar due to all this. She was also given the signing amount but the film went on floors without her. “He didn’t even have the courtesy to inform me or my manager. I found out from the press that he had already started shooting without me,” said Mahima. The actress said she was disappointed as ‘Satya’ was meant to be her second movie.
Her struggles didn’t end there though. Mahima injured herself in a car accident while shooting for ‘Dil Kya Kare’, thus needed a surgery to remove glass from her face. The actress had shared how Ajay Devgn had come out in support of her that time as she was still recovering from surgery when they began shooting again. He supported her, just as any human being would, as a co-star, but that led to people spreading rumours that Ajay and Mahima are dating.
The actress married businessman Bobby Mukherji in 2006 and welcomed their daughter, Ariana, in 2007. However, they got divorced in 2013.