Soni Razdan Shares Memories of Working Through Pregnancies In Earlier Decades

Veteran actor Soni Razdan has opened up about working throughout her pregnancies during the late 1980s and early 1990s, drawing a comparison to her daughter Alia Bhatt working while expecting. Soni recalled that she was pregnant with her first daughter Shaheen Bhatt while shooting for the television show Buniyaad, which was directed by Ramesh Sippy and Jyoti Swarup. She noted that the Sippy family supported her by sending a car to her home in the Lokhandwala complex when transport was scarce, and gave her the best room on set. Soni later became pregnant with Alia Bhatt while filming her husband Mahesh Bhatt's 1993 crime thriller Gumrah. Unaware she was pregnant, she filmed a smoking scene where she smoked around 100 cigarettes in a single day, which sparked unexpected cravings despite her not being a smoker. She also performed a gallows scene during that pregnancy before taking a break, returning five months later to find her costumes required alterations due to her baby bump.

Industry Changes

Soni pointed out that the film industry's mindset has evolved significantly since then, allowing actors today to be openly pregnant without having to hide their families from stressed producers. She recounted a past incident while shooting for Mahesh Bhatt's 1995 show A Mouthful of Sky in Saki Naka, Mumbai, when she received a paging call that seven-year-old Shaheen and three-year-old Alia had locked themselves outside their house, causing her severe distress on set. She also credited production house Cinevistaas Limited, specifically chairperson Prem Kishen Malhotra and managing director Sunil Mehta, for giving her work in shows like A Salam's Junoon and Surendra Mohan's family drama Saahil when other people hesitated to hire her because she was newly married to Mahesh Bhatt.

Context

Working conditions and societal attitudes toward pregnant women in the entertainment industry have undergone major shifts over the past few decades. In earlier periods, performers often faced professional risks or unspoken biases regarding motherhood, whereas contemporary standards increasingly accommodate family planning. Personal accounts from veteran artists often highlight how production support structures and industry norms have transformed over time.