Actress Rani Mukerji recounted the day when her debut film Raja Ki Aayegi Baarat released 23 years ago in an interview with news agency IANS and said that her father late filmmaker Ram Mukerji had to undergo a bypass surgery on the day the film opened in cinemas. Rani Mukerji said that her father was admitted in Mumbai's Breach Candy Hospital and he wanted to delay the surgery and watch his daughter's first film instead. "My most memorable memory of Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat was the day it released, my dad had a bypass operation. He was admitted in Breach Candy and was not willing to go for the operation because he wanted to wait for the release of my film. I told him at that point it was very crucial that he should get the surgery done," she told IANS.
"He went in for the surgery and then he was unconscious in the ICU for about one or two days and when he recovered and regained consciousness, the first thing he asked was has the film release and how was it doing," Rani added.
Rani Mukerji also said that after he was discharged from the hospital, Ram Mukerji wanted to watch the film in Mumbai's Gaiety Galaxy with the audience instead of going home. "I remember when I took him home that day, he insisted on going to Gaiety Galaxy to watch the film with the audience. In fact, he went on the wheelchair and, as he watched the reactions, he wept like an inconsolable child. That is a memory from Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat that I will never forget in my entire life," Rani Mukerji was quoted as saying.
Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat released in 1996, after which Rani Mukerji went on to feature in movies like Ghulaam, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Hey Ram and Nayak among others. She is currently awaiting the release of Mardaani 2, scheduled to release on December 13.
(With inputs from IANS)
