![\"Mandakini's](\"https:\/\/images.bhaskarassets.com\/web2images\/1884\/2026\/09\/17\/dbgifmagic_-_2026-09-17t111244_858_1789623884024.gif\")
<\/picture><\/div>\nMandakini’s real name is Yasmin Joseph. She was born on 30 July 1963 in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh.<\/span><\/p>\n Actress Mandakini has clarified the viral old photograph of herself with Dawood Ibrahim from the 1980s and 1990s. She said Dawood had not invited her to a Sharjah cricket match.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n According to Mandakini, she had gone to Dubai for a show. She then went to watch a cricket match, where the photograph was taken. At the time, she did not know that the photograph would become a source of controversy.<\/p>\n In an interview with ANI, Mandakini said she had no control over the speculation and reports surrounding the photograph.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The actress said that an artist meets many people. An artist does not discriminate against anyone.<\/p>\n She said, “We have no control over what people want to write or say. An artist has to meet thousands of people, and everyone is equal to them.”<\/p>\n Mandakini said, “There were many people with us. In such a situation, who do you choose and who do you leave out? We had gone there for a show. Dawood had not invited me. I went to Dubai for a show and then went to watch the match. At the time, I had no idea about it.”<\/p>\n Mandakini said that the picture later became a subject of controversy. It led to widespread speculation.<\/p>\n She said, “This controversy caused a great deal of damage. I later realised that there should have been a team to handle all these things. I denied these rumours everywhere.”<\/p>\n In the 1980s and 1990s, Dawood was running his network from Dubai. He often hosted lavish parties there for Bollywood stars. Apart from Mandakini, an old photograph of actor Anil Kapoor at Sharjah Stadium is also available online, showing Dawood Ibrahim standing beside him.<\/p>\n However, regarding the picture, Anil Kapoor’s daughter Sonam Kapoor clarified on social media that her father had gone there with Raj Kapoor and Krishna Kapoor only to watch a cricket match and did not know who was sitting beside him. Rishi Kapoor himself had admitted that he met Dawood twice in Dubai.<\/p>\n Mandakini reveals the truth behind the much-discussed scene in “Ram Teri Ganga Maili”<\/strong><\/p>\n Mandakini made her debut with the film ‘Ram Teri Ganga Maili’, in which she played the lead role.<\/p>\n Directed by Raj Kapoor, the film was a major hit. However, several scenes from the film later became the subject of discussion and controversy.<\/p>\n Mandakini spoke about the waterfall scene filmed with her in a white sari for the song ‘Tujhe Bulaye Yeh Meri Bahnen’, as well as the much-debated breastfeeding scene. She said the purpose of these scenes was to portray innocence and purity in the film.<\/p>\n In an interview with ANI, Mandakini said that she was only 16 when she began shooting for the film and had no idea how these scenes would later be viewed.<\/p>\n Mandakini currently runs a Tibetan herbal wellness centre in Mumbai with her husband, Dr Kagyu T. Rinpoche Thakur, and teaches yoga.<\/span><\/p>\n Speaking about the waterfall scene, Mandakini said Raj Kapoor had explained it to her. According to her, the purpose was not to show obscenity, but to highlight the film’s story and the purity of Ganga’s character.<\/p>\n The actress said, “His approach was such that you did not question him at all. He was so loving and so gentle, as if a family member was asking you to do it. I did not feel any obscenity whatsoever. There was no bad or repulsive feeling. The entire film was about people wanting to defile Ganga, but they could not do so.”<\/p>\n She added, “He was standing in front of me. I felt a little exposed, so I doubled the sari. He told me to double it, so I did. That was it-the shot was done. It was a big moment for me because I had come from a very small place.”‘<\/p>\n Mandakini clarified the breastfeeding scene<\/strong><\/p>\n Mandakini also clarified the film’s much-discussed breastfeeding scene. She said that there was no actual breastfeeding and that the scene was created through the positioning of the camera.<\/p>\n She said, “No, there was no breastfeeding there. They filmed it very well. It is difficult for me to explain now, but if I tell you how it was done, you will understand.”<\/p>\n The actress said that she had a child with her in the scene and was holding the child tightly. She said, “Yes, I had a child with me and I was holding the child tightly, but it was not breastfeeding. This is what I want to tell everyone.”<\/p>\n According to Mandakini, she was wearing a low-cut outfit and had kept the child close to her body. Because of the camera angle, it appeared that the mother was breastfeeding her child. She said the purpose of the scene was to show the bond between a mother and her child, but it was later interpreted differently.<\/p>\n Refused to recreate the waterfall scene after achieving success<\/strong><\/p>\n The actress also revealed that after the success of ‘Ram Teri Ganga Maili’, some filmmakers asked her to repeat the waterfall scene, but she refused. She said that a film needs a good story to succeed, not just one scene.<\/p>\n She said, “A very good story is needed for a film to become a hit, and that is what ‘Ram Teri Ganga Maili’ had. What is shown in it? How is it treated? What message does the director want to convey to you? Everything matters.”<\/p>\n After the success of ‘Ram Teri Ganga Maili’, she worked with several leading actors in the industry, including Mithun Chakraborty and Govinda, and appeared in several films during her career.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mandakini’s real name is Yasmin Joseph. She was born on 30 July 1963 in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. Actress Mandakini has clarified the viral old photograph of herself with Dawood Ibrahim from the 1980s and 1990s. She said Dawood had not invited her to a Sharjah cricket match. According to Mandakini, she had gone to Dubai…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[42910,20952,42912,27712,42907,42911,42909,42908],"class_list":["post-39302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-7","tag-1980s-bollywood","tag-bollywood-controversy","tag-cricket-match-dubai","tag-dawood-ibrahim","tag-mandakini","tag-mandakini-dawood-photo","tag-mandakini-viral-photo","tag-sharjah-cricket-match"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/im.rediff.com\/news\/2026\/sep\/16live-mandy.jpg\")
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