EXCLUSIVE: Renuka Shahane reveals people judged her because her parents were separated; Says, 'It impacted..'
Recently, Renuka Shahane sat down for a heart-to-heart conversation for Pinkvilla's Woman Up season 4 and spoke about her journey.
Renuka Shahane is one of the most loved actresses in Indian cinema. She started off her career with television and went on to feature in Marathi films. Later, Renuka ventured into Hindi films and it was Sooraj Barjatya's superhit film, Hum Aapke Hain Koun that brought her into the limelight. She portrayed the role of Pooja and left the audience mighty impressed with her acting chops. Recently, Renuka sat down for a heart-to-heart conversation for Pinkvilla's Woman Up season 4 and spoke about her journey. She also talked about her childhood and the impact of her parents' separation on her.
'In the beginning, I was such a people pleaser'
Renuka, who was last seen in Govinda Naam Mera with Vicky Kaushal and Kiara Advani, spilled the beans on her parents' separation when she was young. She revealed how it impacted her. She also said that everyone judged her because her parents were separated. Did her parents' separation impact her impression of love, romance and marriage? The actress said, "Oh yes, it did. Definitely. In the beginning, I was such a people pleaser because of that. People would judge me because my parents were separated. They used to say 'Inke sath mat khelo because they come from a broken home'. Even teachers, they were so nasty. The scene that you see in Tribhanga where that girl is asked, particularly pointed questions about her mother and surname, it happened to me. People feel it's something of an exaggeration but it's not."
WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE:
She continued, "Those experiences that you face as a child do definitely colour your outlook. So in the beginning, I became a people pleaser because I wanted everybody to like me or please (laughs). Later, I became more and more confident as a person and I think a lot of that had to do with my college. I went to Xavier's college and I did my entire psychology there and that was the time the teachers there and everybody else influenced me to love myself, to have that self-confidence. It has really helped my vision after my BA was completed. So that confidence I carried only after college. I was a very diffident person actually."
Renuka Shahane on her first marriage
Renuka also spoke about her first marriage. She was earlier married to Vijay Kenkare, a Marathi theater writer and director. But the duo parted ways amicably. The actress revealed how she 'gained immensely' and 'learned' from that experience. Ask her if her past impacted the first marriage too?
She said, "Yes, of course, because one wants it to work also and one wanted to get married early also for that same reason. It didn't work and we were two very nice individuals but unfortunately as husband and wife, it didn't work out. So the best possible thing to do is to part amicably and to look at it as an experience that one has learned from. I think that I have gained immensely from that experience because after a very long gap when I fell in love with Ashutosh Rana, my picture of marriage was definitely not rosy. So it was much more realistic. I was able to handle a lot of ups and downs much more easily and also because I was mature by then. By the time I got married, I was 34 or 35, so that's quite an age to get married in India (laughs)."