Manisha Koirala reveals the failure of Rajinikanth’s Baba ended her career in south

Manisha Koirala, who made a big impact in south film industry with films such as Bombay (1995), Indian (1996) and Mudhalvan (1999), revealed in a recent interview that it was the failure of Rajinikanth’s Tamil film Baba, which released amid very high expectations in 2002, that ended her career in the south. (Also read: Manisha Koirala: ‘A lot of men are making women-centric projects’)

In an interview with O2 India YouTube channel, Manisha opened up about her south career and how Rajinikanth’s Baba impacted her south career. A clip from her interview surfaced on Twitter on Wednesday. She could be seen talking about the impact of the failure of Baba on her career.

“Baba was probably my last big Tamil film. It flopped so badly in those days. It was such a huge disaster. Lot of expectations were on the film and when it flopped, I thought my career in south films was gone completely and it did in a way,” she said, adding before Baba she was doing multiple south films.

“After Baba flopped, I stopped getting offers,” she added. It’s worth mentioning that Baba, which was directed by Suresh Krissna, re-released in theatres last year on the occasion of Rajinikanth’s birthday. The film managed to register decent numbers at the box office.

The film featured Rajinikanth in the role of a carefree young atheist Baba, who learns that he’s the reincarnation of a great saint from the Himalayas.

As part of the same interview, Manisha goes on to mention that she was glad that Baba turned out to be a hit when it was released after 20 years recently. “Strangely, the film turned out to be a hit when it was re-released which is unheard of. Rajini sir can never give a flop. He is such a kind man to work with,” she said.

After Baba, Manisha was seen in a brief role in Kamal Haasan’s Mumbai Xpress (2005), which was simultaneously shot and released in Hindi and Tamil.

Manisha was recently seen in Karthik Aaryan’s Shehzada, the Hindi remake of Allu Arjun’s Telugu blockbuster Ala Vaikuntapuramlo (2022). She will next be seen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Netflix web series Heeramandi later this year.

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