28 years of Raja Hindustani: Pratibha Sinha on being the 'Pardesi girl', "It feels as though we were filming the song yesterday"

Filmmaker Dharmesh Darshan’s Raja Hindustani recently completed 28 years. Starring Aamir Khan and Karisma Kapoor in lead roles, the movie, which is a romantic drama, became a runaway hit and also won a lot of awards. The film is also widely known for its song ‘Pardesi Pardesi’. Pratibha Sinha, who also starred in the song, spoke about her experience of starring in it in an interview with us.Are you proud to be known as the Pardesi Girl?Am I known as the ‘Pardesi Girl’?Of course! The song ‘Pardesi pardesi jana nahin’ became your calling card to fameI can’t believe 28 years have gone by!!! It feels as though we were filming the song yesterday.... I recall Dharmesh calling me up and telling me that he was keen on me performing to a song in Raja Hindustani, which was in production.Didn’t you fear you might go unnoticed in a film that starred Aamir Khan and Karisma Kapoor?I trusted Dharmesh Darshan completely. As his parents and he had been our family friends and since I knew him from the time I was a toddler, I agreed immediately. I was also acutely aware of the fact that he was a very gifted and dedicated filmmaker, a sensitive and evolved human being, who thought with his heart and felt with his mind.... which spurred me to accept the offer.Did you ever expect your special song and dance to be so popular?When one is in the thick of things, one does not tend to expect or for that matter even think of any kind of reaction. Dharmesh had narrated the story to me and it was obvious that the song was propelling the story forward.Why did you quit the industry so suddenly? To be honest, I was ‘phased out’ by the film industry. I guess I was and still am out of step with the rest of the world. The world we live in is by and large misogynistic. We are simple, rustic Nepali people... Mom trusted the wrong people, let the wrong kind of elements get into our life. She is very naive in many ways.Also Read: 28 Years of Raja Hindustani EXCLUSIVE: Dharmesh Darshan reveals there’s a TREMENDOUS demand for sequel to Aamir Khan-starrer: “People tell me, ‘I should turn the Thug Of Hindostan into Raja Hindustani again’”; also appeals to the producers, I wish they have grace and share some royalty”