The Aamir Khan-starrer Laal Singh Chaddha was finally released in cinemas after a long wait, on August 11. An official remake of the Hollywood classic Forrest Gump (1994), it tells the story of a man’s extraordinary journey and also focuses on some of the important events of the post-Independence era India. And the makers have also been inspired by certain episodes and have smartly incorporated them into the film.
This is especially in the case of Kareena Kapoor Khan’s character, Rupa D’Souza. Bollywood Hungama published last week that the makers touched upon Milind Soman and Madhu Sapre’s nude photoshoot controversy. The models had gotten into legal trouble for posing naked. Rupa is also shown to be facing the heat from the law after an obscenity case is slapped on her.
In the later part of the film, Rupa gets associated with Abbas Haji (Harry Parmar). He’s shown to be an influential man who could help Rupa fulfil her desire to be a film actress. Haji, sadly, betrays her and she ends up being his moll and a background dancer in films (she is the dancer behind Madhuri Dixit in the song ‘Makhna’ in the film).
Abbas Haji is then revealed to be an underworld don who even had links with Dawood Ibrahim. Rupa escapes from Abbas’ clutches and seeks refuge at Laal Singh Chaddha’s house. Later, she helps the police nab Abbas in Malaysia. He is sentenced to life imprisonment while Rupa was sentenced to jail for six months.
The track of Rupa seemed very similar to Monica Bedi case, prompting many to wonder if she served as an inspiration for the makers of Laal Singh Chaddha. Monica Bedi was in a relationship with underworld gangster Abu Salem. It was widely reported that Abu had used his criminal power to get roles for Monica Bedi in Bollywood. Both were arrested in 2002 in Portugal for entering the county on forged documents. She was released from prison in 2007 after she was granted bail. Meanwhile, Abu Salem is still serving his jail sentence.
After being released from jail, Monica Bedi was seen in TV shows like ‘Bigg Boss Season 2’, ‘Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 3’, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Saraswatichandra’, etc. She also worked in Punjabi films like Sirphire (2012), Romeo Ranjha (2014), Bandookan (2017) etc.
