
Meet Muslim actress, who once played mother to a Hindu boy, married him despite being 8 years elder, became mother at 40, is now..., her name is...
Television actress Kishwer Merchant rose to instant fame as ' Nonnie ' in the '90s superhit show, Hip Hip Hurray. In 2010, she starred dating actor Suyyash Rai, whom had played her son in the show Pyaar Ki Ek Kahani . Despite being 8-years older than him, she never let the age difference come in the way. The couple had an inter-faith marriage in 2016. After 6 years, they welcomed their first child, a baby boy named Nirvair . Kishwer Merchant on marrying Suyyash Rai
On Debina Bonnerjee's talk show, Kishwer Merchant talked about her inter-caste marriage, and her life experiences as a mother. She revealed religion was never an issue for them, as Suyyash's sister was also married to a Muslim boy.
She addressed that it was the 8-year age gap which ended up becoming a problem for Suyyash's family. Kishwer said that his mother was a bit skeptical about their relationship. 'I am a mother now, I completely understand that you know. Agar mera beta bhi mujhe aake bolta ki you know 8 saal badi ladki hai . Toh I would also be like, 'Dude what.' Being a mother now, she understood what Rai's mother would have thought.
Taking the conversation further, she said that in today's scenario the age gap isn't a big deal, but when she did it, it wasn't something common. Citing Priyanka Chopra's example, she said that many women too this path, and is extremely normal to do so. Kishwer Merchant on embracing motherhood in 40s
Kishwer Merchant who became mother in her 40s, defied all odds and became an inspiration for many women. During the same conversation, she said that she was never worried about the pregnancy and wasn't even considering opting motherhood. For the first two months, she didn't even realise she was pregnant. However, later, Suyyash and she proudly told their families that they were happy dog parents- and that's when god blessed them with a child.

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The Hindu
33 minutes ago
- The Hindu
An exhibition that provides a glimpse into the glorious past of the city, its rich culture
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India Today
33 minutes ago
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Indian Express
4 hours ago
- Indian Express
Shazia Iqbal on directing Dhadak 2 as a Muslim woman: ‘Box-office collection is secondary to the opportunity to make the film'
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Irrespective of what happened with Dhadak (the 2018 movie was criticised for glossing over the caste-based prejudices), Karan wanted us to be true to the soul of Pariyerum Perumal, which is directed by Mari Selvaraj, who comes from the Dalit community. As someone who belongs to a marginalised community, I knew that if my film is remade, I would not want anyone to deviate from its core theme. While reimagining the film, we wanted to make our own film, but we did not want to override the original voice of the Tamil movie. Also Read | The real horror in Dhadak 2 isn't the killer, it's us There is a lot of criticism about Siddhant Chaturvedi being 'brown-faced' in the movie even though he has delivered a compelling performance as a Dalit law student. Siddhant is not trained, but he is an intuitive and intelligent actor. I follow the process of speaking to actors extensively, and I try to build a relationship based on trust and openness. 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Does Dhadak 2 mark a shift in Dharma Productions' approach towards mainstream romantic movies? Yes, and I am at the edge of that shift. For someone who is trolled so much and called 'the flag-bearer of nepotism', Karan has brought together us outsiders to make this film. He has made a bold move because mainstream Hindi movies have a certain grammar. In the late '90s, the issue of identity took a backseat and movies became candyfloss. But if social relevance is once again part of mainstream storytelling, more filmmakers should embrace that. Triptii Dimri has a monologue when she questions the idea of 'izzat' and if women alone are responsible for it. Though casteism is the central theme of the film, I thought we needed to have a conversation about gender. We take the agency of a woman away when we tell her who she is allowed to love. Triptii's character needed that agency even as she is ignorant about the prevalence of caste-based bias in cities. Both my co-writer Rahul Badwelkar and I have been disturbed by the term 'honour'. We knew somewhere we need to bring her character Vidhi's voice into the film as well as question this idea of 'honour' and why women are burdened with it. In one of the scenes, a bucketful of muck is thrown at Nilesh. How tough was it to shoot the film? That was the point in the film when Nilesh (Siddhant) starts getting more assertive. As the film's narrative progresses, he is finding his voice. We wanted a moment of assertion when he was fighting back. We have instances of 'manual scavengers' being shamed. When muck from the gutter is thrown at him to shame him, Nilesh makes it his moment by not washing it off. He faces his tormentor, completely covered with muck and puts it back on the latter. Of course, we were not going to put muck on actors. So, the make-up team made it with chocolate and palak. We had the time to throw it on him only once. So, we rehearsed it beforehand. 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When I was working with Anurag Kashyap on Mukkabaaz (2017), I told him that I wanted to direct a short. After reading the Bebaak script, he offered to produce it. We had cast someone else for the role that Nawazuddin Siddiqui eventually played. That actor stepped down days before the shoot, and I asked Anurag if he could ask Nawazuddin if he would play the role (of a religious leader),and Nawaz said yes. What was your experience with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC)? Karan wanted to save every cut and spoke to the members about why certain things needed to stay in the movie. This was an emotionally difficult experience for me. My parents raised me with certain values which included not being okay with something wrong in the society and to question things. With the censor board, I felt they were trying to tell us what to do or not do. Maybe I have said things too directly in this film and we will use more metaphors and symbols in the next one. What kind of films do you see yourself making in the coming years? Many are surprised that we made a mainstream film that's hard-hitting. I hope I am not tagged as a political filmmaker and not get work. I am more comfortable with being called a socially-relevant filmmaker and I want to make movies in the mainstream space. The film can belong to any genre, still you can make your statement. That's an art Koreans have mastered; Parasite (2019) is a great example of that.