Most of us remember Smriti Irani as the ideal bahu, Tulsi Virani, from the soap opera ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’ (KSBKBT).
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Over the years of her working in front of the camera, earning her livelihood, and becoming a household name, she also went through testing times that made her value life more.
Recently when the former actress was in an interview with Neelesh Misra for his show ‘The Slow Interview’ she shared an anecdote from her struggling days that has stayed with her over the years.
Recalling this incident, which hardly people know about, Smriti shared that back in 2002, she was shooting for Ekta Kapoor’s ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’ as well as another TV show ‘Ramayan’ for director Ravi Chopra. It was during this time that she had a miscarriage, just a year after delivering her first child Zohr.
“After I gave birth to my son, I was not aware that I am pregnant. I was on the set (of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi) and I told them I am not well enough to shoot and asked to be allowed to go home. I insisted, please take my shot first, I genuinely don’t feel well. But still, I worked, and by the time they let me go, it was evening already.”
After feeling sick, she informed her doctor about it who suggested she should get sonography done.
“On my way, I started bleeding, and I remember it was raining. I stopped an auto and asked the driver to take me to the hospital. I reached the local hospital, a nurse came running to ask for an autograph, while I was bleeding. I gave her the autograph, and asked her, ‘Admit kar loge, I think I am miscarrying’.”
While she was at the hospital, handling the medical emergency, she gets a call from the sets of KSBKBT asking her to be there on time. She told the person on the phone:
“I told you I don’t feel good, I’m bleeding, I just had a miscarriage. So, the person said, ‘It’s okay, you can come in the 2 pm shift.”
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She pointed out that she would shoot in the first half for Ravi Chopra’s ‘Ramayan’ and in the other half for Ekta Kapoor.
When she called Ravi at 10 pm to seek his permission to come an hour late the next day, Ravi told her, “Tumhara dimag kharab hai (Are you out of your mind)? Do you know how it feels to lose a child, you have just gone through that. Kal aane ki zaroorat nahi (No need to come tomorrow). I pushed and said, ‘Ravi ji Sunday ka episode hai, Sita replace nahi ho sakti (It’s Sunday’s episode, you can’t shoot around me). He said, ‘Main kar lunga (I will manage),” she shared.
On being told that she was going for the shoot for Ekta Kapoor’s serial, Ravi asked her to use his shift to sleep and rest instead. The next day after her hospitalization, Smriti returned to Ekta’s show and found that a co-actor had told the producer that she was lying about her miscarriage because she was back to work immediately the next day.
“The person didn’t realize that I have returned because I needed money to pay EMIs for my house. The next day, I took all my medical papers to Ekta to tell her it is not a drama. She got uncomfortable and told me not to show the papers. I told her, ‘Fetus bacha nahi, warna woh bhi dikha deti (I would have shown you the fetus also had it been there).”
Not just Misra, even we’re shocked to hear that Smriti Irani, an acclaimed actor, had to go through all this.