Bollywood actor-producer Pooja Bhatt revealed she was terrified to portray her real-life grandmother, Shirin, in the film ‘Zakhm’ (1998).
Bhatt, who essayed her grandmother, a single mom of the son played by Ajay Devgn (Kunal Kemmu in the younger version), in the semi-autobiographical film, said that she was not willing to take the role in the self-produced title.
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In a recent interview with an Indian tabloid, Bhatt said, “Frankly, I was terrified to take on the responsibility of playing my grandmother and tried hard to suggest to my father we cast another actor in my place but my father gave me no choice.”
“He said ‘I am not asking you, Pooja. I am telling you that you are playing this part.’ That was the end of the discussion. The rest is history,” she recalled.
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“The privilege of playing my grandmother – that was her personal saree I was wearing in the song. It is something I will always be grateful to my father for. The ‘mangalsutra‘ I wore in the film also belonged to my grandmother Shirin. And the set of our home was a replica of the home my father grew up in as a boy,” Bhatt stated.
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“Those days and that space I shared with Kunal [Kemmu] in front of the camera are some of the most magical times of my life!”
In an earlier tweet shared a few years ago, Bhatt noted that her grandmother was a Muslim woman who would take her to the temple and church every week. 
‘Zakhm’ (1998) starring Ajay Devgn, Sonali Bendre, Pooja Bhatt, Nagarjuna and Kunal Kemmu was written and directed by Mahesh Bhatt, who also co-produced it with Pooja.
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