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EXCLUSIVE: Hum Aapke Hai Kaun co-star Renuka Shahane: Have missed meeting Reemaji for a long time and I do regret it
Renuka Shahane gets emotional while talking to PINKVILLA as she shares some fond memories associated with Reema Lagoo.
Reema Lagoo passed away this morning in Mumbai after suffering from a cardiac arrest. The news came as a shock to everyone and condolences started pouring in on the social media as soon as the news broke the internet.
Bollywood, today, lost an impeccable actor who was touted to be an epitome of motherly love. However, her talent was not just limited to films, in fact, very few people know that Reemaji actually started with theatre and then adapted her talent in films and TV alike. Such was her charisma and warmth!
Amongst her most loved and iconic characters is her role in Sooraj Barjatya 's Hum Aapke Hain Kaun where she played mother to Madhuri Dixit and Renuka Shahane's character. Her smile, her grace and her aura had left us all spellbound.
Renuka was known to share a close bond with the actor. Hence, we got in touch with her to ask about her fond memories with Reemaji.
Renuka, who was herself shocked and emotional hearing the news, could barely speak initially as she narrated some of the best times she shared with the veteran actor. 
The Hum Aapke Hai Kaun (HAHK) co-star began by saying, "We have had such a wonderful time on the sets of Hum Aapke Hai Kaun and actually I have seen her as an actor in theatre much before I worked with her, so I mean, I was a huge fan of her, her Marathi theatre work. What she has portrayed onscreen is very much like what she was off-screen with us."
"She was very protective of me because that was one of the first films I had done... HAHK.. and with such a huge cast," she said, adding that they used to share the makeup room and tiffin boxes while shooting for the film.
Further, recalling Reemaji's personality, she said, "She had this great knack of being really really open with people she liked. Luckily I was one of them.. but of course the people whom she didn't like she used to be very particular not to interact with... she had to like someone for her to be open to them."
Sharing an anecdote from the HAHK filming, Renuka said, "She was so incredibly beautiful and the funniest thing is she hated doing makeup. She used to hate doing hair.. there used to be a battle in the makeup room where she used to yell at makeup man and hairdresser to get her ready asap.. she hated being in front of the mirror..it took too long for her to get ready as sometimes for films like HAHK where every function is celebrated, she had to get ready often, so she used to get upset with the time taken."
Further, the actor recalled, "Reemaji was a simple and incredibly beautiful person.. with an immense talent.. she had a great sense of humour.. but the funny thing was we had to be very careful of not making her laugh in serious scenes because once she went into the loop it was difficult for her to stop laughing."
Talking about Reemaji's craft, her HAHK co-star said, "She was intense as an actor. I will never forget that expression of hers in that 'sambdi' song (in HAHK), the last namaskar which she does is such a brilliant expression and it is so subtle and yet it brings out all those emotions.The intensity that she brought to the role in a very gentle manner, even in her role in Vaastav where she had to kill her own son and yet she was so intense in such a subtle way."
Reminsciening the time Reemaji couldn't stop crying, Renuka said, "It was the sequence where I die in the hospital (in HAHK) that affected her the most. As an actor, she is so committed to her work that she couldn't accept the fact that a child is passing away before the parent.. that concept for her was so difficult to accept.. after the filming was over, she just was shaking with emotions and couldn't stop crying and I had to really hold her tight, hug her and assure everything is fine.. that was all unreal."
"I have seen that side of her.. intense emotions, amazing comic timing.. great fun to be with and at the same time very protective.. especially about me.. I really owe her a lot," she added.
Later, she added that she regrets not meeting her during her last moments. "For the last 10 years I haven't really been in touch with her because I have actually not been in touch with anyone.. I have not really done much work.. I have missed meeting her after a long period of time.. and I do regret that," said an emotional Renuka.
Towards the end, as her voice cracked a bit, Renuka said, "It's a huge loss, there is nothing that one can say.. it's just so sad that she passed away so suddenly.. it is so difficult to digest even now."
When asked if she attended the funeral, she said, "I did not go to the funeral but I visited the family before the funeral and I met her daughter and frankly I did not want to see Reemaji that way."
On being asked how Reemaji's daughter is handling the situation, the actor said, "She (Reemaji's daughter) is luckily managing everything beautifully.. she is the only child so obviously you can understand how her condition must be but she is carrying on strongly."
"Her mother herself was so strong so I think she has passed that strength to her daughter," she said on a parting note.
We at Pinkvilla offer our condolences for the bereaved family.
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