Filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who is currently basking in the success of 12th Fail, has made classics like Parinda, 1942: A Love Story and others. In 1998, he made a love story titled Kareeb with Bobby Deol and Neha (now known as Shabana Raza) but the shooting experience was not pleasant for the stars.
In fact, at one point VVC, lost his cool and bit Neha’s hand while shooting the movie. Talking to Filmfare in 2001, Bobby recalled it and said, he was “too shocked to react” when the incident took place. “There is a certain vulnerability about her. Kareeb was my third film and I was just beginning to feel settled. Neha was raw. And Vinod gave her a tough time. He’d yell at her constantly,” he shared.
The Animal actor also said that no one shouted at him because of his surname and his father’s popularity. “No one pulled me up, maybe because my father’s famous,” he said.
Recalling the incident, Bobby said, “For one scene, Neha had to come down the mountain and give me her left hand. But she kept getting confused. When she couldn’t get this right after repeated takes, Vidhu asked her to bite her right hand. She did but she still got it wrong in the next take. After 20 takes, Vidhu lost his cool. And you know what he did? He bit her right hand. I was too shocked to react.”
The actor further added that even Shabana was shocked when this thing happened to her. “Poor thing, she was shivering with fright. But even in the okay take, she puts out her right hand,” said Deol.
In 2008, Neha spoke about her name change and told Rediff, “I was never Neha. I was always Shabana. I was forced into changing my name too. I was not okay with it at all. My parents proudly named me Shabana. There was no need to change it, but nobody listened to me.”
The actress also featured opposite Hrithik Roshan in Fiza and is now married to actor Manoj Bajpayee.