Anu Aggarwal: 'At that time, many actresses from the South couldn’t speak proper Hindi.'

Anu Aggarwal became an overnight star with the superhit film, Aashiqui, starring Rahul Roy. She was also a supermodel back then. However, an accident in 1999 left her in a coma for almost a month, changing her life completely. She moved away from showbiz to focus on her recovery. She lived in an ashram and renounced the world. She returned to urban life in 2006. Today, she runs the Anu Aggarwal Foundation and advocates yoga.

We took a nostalgic trip with the actress during her Aashiqui days. When the movie was released, there was buzz that her voice was dubbed. Reacting to the same, the actress says, “Wow, really? I haven’t heard of this one. Fake rumour.”

Adding further, she says, “Before Aashiqui, I was a supermodel. My husky voice was rare for women to have at the time as most girls spoke in high-pitched tones. My English and Hindi pronunciations in a deep tone were appreciated in the industry. As a supermodel, I also took on jobs as a voice-over artiste for advertisements.”

Dubbing was a common practice during the 1900s for actors. This was
especially true for South actors like Sridevi, Jayaprada, etc. Talking about the same, Anu says, “Yes at that time many actresses from the South couldn’t speak proper Hindi. So, dubbing was essential. Back then when I was shooting in Chennai, top South Indian filmmakers wanted to work with me. But, soon after I left showbiz.”

Speaking about her multilingual background and the languages she knows, Anu shares, “I know English, due to my convent education, Hindi, my mother is a writer/poet in Hindi but prefers to keep it private. I used to speak French and a bit of German, my father who had German teachers in the Air Force spoke more German than English!”

For the last few years, South films like Baahubali, RRR, Pushpa, etc, have gained national prominence. Sharing her take on that, Anu signs off by saying, “Yes that’s true, these films are superhits. But please don’t forget I did a South film, Thiruda Thiruda, way back in 1993. The song Chandralekha with music by AR Rehman and my dance moves were a superhit, rage of the day then.”