{"id":187610,"date":"2025-12-16T13:40:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T13:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/187610\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T13:40:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T13:40:07","slug":"real-kamal-haasan-asked-urmila-matondkar-in-disbelief-when-the-rangeela-actress-featured-in-chanakya-starring-chahi-420-actor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/187610\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Real Kamal Haasan?’ asked Urmila Matondkar in disbelief; When the ‘Rangeela’ actress featured in ‘Chanakya’ starring ‘Chahi 420’ actor |"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"'RealUrmila Matondkar reflects on her shy childhood beginnings in cinema, transforming into a confident performer. Guided by legends like Shreeram Lagoo, Shekhar Kapur, Shyam Benegal, and Kamal Haasan, she learned the essence of acting through early roles in films like ‘Zaakol’ and ‘Masoom’. A pivotal moment was witnessing Kamal Haasan’s silent performance, revealing the power of pure acting. Urmila Matondkar<\/a> is revisiting her beginnings in cinema, reflecting on how a painfully shy schoolgirl grew into a confident performer under the guidance of some of Indian cinema\u2019s most respected names, including Shreeram Lagoo<\/a>, Shekhar Kapur<\/a>, Shyam Benegal, and Kamal Haasan.<\/p>\n

Early years as a shy child actor<\/p>\n

Matondkar recalls that her journey started in 1980, when she appeared as a child artist in Shreeram Lagoo\u2019s Marathi film ‘Zaakol’. Off camera, she says she was the exact opposite of a bold performer. \u201cI was an extreme introvert,\u201d she remembered, adding that if anyone asked her to say her name out loud, \u201cI would start crying.\u201d She explains that whatever expression or courage she had was on the stage at a time when there was no camera. <\/p>\n

Urmila Matondkar Dances To ‘Rangeela Re’ As Film Turns 30 Years Old<\/p>\n

These early experiences worried her family, who were unsure how such a reserved child would cope around a towering figure like Dr Lagoo. They were anxious that she might falter or embarrass them, but that first film became the start of a long and committed journey in cinema with no turning back.<\/p>\n

Learning from legends in \u2018Masoom\u2019 and with Kamal Haasan<\/p>\n

In a throwback interview with Bollywood Hungama, Matondkar opened up about her formative years and the mentors who helped her understand what it truly means to be an artist. As she looks back, she fondly recalls her time on Shekhar Kapur\u2019s classic ‘Masoom’, a film she remembers as feeling like \u201ca school picnic\u201d for the three children on set. Between ‘Zaakol’ and ‘Masoom’, she worked in Shyam Benegal\u2019s ‘Kalyug’, further deepening her craft. Speaking about ‘Masoom’, she praised Kapur\u2019s direction and highlighted one much-discussed scene where her character senses tension between her parents, opens a door, and quietly says \u201cMumma,\u201d a moment that people on set and fans still talk about when they discuss her acting.Matondkar also treasures her experience working with Kamal Haasan while she was still in school, on the film ‘Chanakya’. When the project was first offered, she remembers asking in disbelief, \u201cReal Kamal Haasan?\u201d On set, she watched him design an entire meeting between their characters using only movement and reaction, with no spoken lines. \u201cAt that time on set, I realized what an actor is,\u201d she shared. Although she admitted she was \u201cvery very nervous\u201d before filming, that silent, choreographed scene taught her how powerful pure performance can be and remains one of the defining lessons of her early career. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Urmila Matondkar reflects on her shy childhood beginnings in cinema, transforming into a confident performer. Guided by legends…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[458,108277,146,85,46,5523,108278,108280,108279,108281,3490],"class_list":{"0":"post-187610","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-chanakya-film","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-israel","13":"tag-kamal-haasan","14":"tag-masoom-film","15":"tag-shekhar-kapur","16":"tag-shreeram-lagoo","17":"tag-shyam-benegal","18":"tag-urmila-matondkar"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}