25 years of Satya: When this actress said she felt 'humiliated' after Ram Gopal Varma replaced her with Urmila Matondkar

Directed by Ram Gopal Varma, the gangster drama Satya was released in the cinemas on July 3, 1998, and completed 25 years of its release on Monday. J.D. Chakravarthy played the titular role whereas Manoj Bajpayee, Saurabh Shukla, Shefali Shah, Makrand Deshpande, Govind Namdeo, and Urmila Matondkar were seen in pivotal roles.

Initially, Ram Gopal Varma, or RGV as he is referred to in the Hindi film industry, had approached another actress to play Vidya, Satya's love interest in the film, and later went with Urmila Matondkar, with whom he had previously worked in Rangeela and later Daud and later directed her in Kaun, Mast, and Bhoot among others.

Mahima Chaudhry revealed in an interview in 2021 that she felt 'humiliated and insulted' after the filmmaker replaced her in Satya without informing her. The actress told Bollywood Bubble, "When I was doing Pardes I was offered Satya. Mr Ram Gopal Varma was doing dubbing for his film and he met me and said I am doing this very small film which I have to wrap quickly. It’s about a gangster and there’s no part for a girl. And I heard the story while we used to sit for tea and I was like very good I want to do this."

Mahima, who made her Bollywood debut in Subhash Ghai's Pardes in 1997, further added, "Mr. Ghai actually told me, ‘Itni badi picture ke baad tum ek choti si picture karogi isiliye maine tumhe launch kiya tha? (After doing such a big film, you will do such a small film, did I launch you for this?)' I was like, ‘No no no. It’s a very nice film’. So I agreed to do Satya. My manager did the formalities. Even in my interviews, I told everyone I am doing Satya. It’s my next film."

"I was supposed to start the shoot in two days but they already started the shoot one day earlier with another actor who was in all his productions. And he didn’t even think it was important to call me or my manager that he changed his mind. And I had to hear it from the press. And that time the press can be very mean and they said, ‘Ohh you have been thrown out.’ And I was like yeah. I was humiliated and insulted. I took it badly", the actress concluded.

Satya went on to become a cult film and proved to be a major turning point in Manoj Bajpayee's career. He won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Career. Urmila earned herself a nomination for Best Actress at the 44th Filmfare Awards but lost out to Kajol, who won for Karan Johar's Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.

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