Aditi Rao Hydari is dazzled by the compliments she has received for her brief yet evocative role as Mehrunisa in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s epic drama “Padmaavat”. The actress says she is overjoyed by the positive response.

“I never expected so much praise for such a brief role. But then Sanjay sir had told me I’d be happy with my role. I am not just happy. I am overjoyed. The response has been tremendous. And I can see why. My character Mehrunisa comes across as the only source of positivity that’s pure and honest in Khilji’s life,” she said.

Aditi played wife to Ranveer Singh’s character as Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khilji in the film — which is on its way to cross Rs 250 crore at the box office.

“Ranveer’s Khilji is such a dark evil character. There’s no light in his life, except for his wife. Played by me. She is the light in that deep well of Khilji’s consciousness,” says Aditi, who is billed as a guest appearance in the credits of “Padmaavat”.

The actress added: “That’s Sanjay sir’s decision to give me that respect because of the limited footage I had. While shooting also I felt I was hardly there since I was hardly called to shoot. I never realised until I saw the film what a brilliant director can do to a character even in the limited space provided by the plot.”

Aditi feels the impact of her character in “Padmaavat” is due to the writing.

“You see, there is so much to Mehrunisa than meets the eye. She marries the monster knowing what he’s like. There’s a back story to their alliance. They’re supposed to be childhood friends.”

What Aditi really loved about her character was its progressiveness.

“She knows her husband is a monster. She knows he is a bi-sexual. But she is not scared of him. She looks into his maniacal eyes without flinching and she wears the crown that her father once wore and which has now been usurped by her unscrupulous husband, with dignity even if is too large for her petite head.”

Aditi gives all the credit for the impact of her role to her director.

“Sanjay sir made Mehrunisa much more than just a victim of a sadistic marriage. She understands her responsibilities as royalty and fulfils them with great dignity under pressure.”

Nine years after hosting the last season, Salman Khan is ready to bring Dus Ka Dum back to the audience. The superstar will shoot for the promo of the reality game show at Film City today. Having wrapped up the Mumbai schedule of Race 3, Khan had a few days on hand before he resumes the Abu Dhabi schedule of the Remo D’Souza-directed venture. The producers of the show decided to make the most of Khan’s free time and arranged the shoot.

A unit hand tells mid-day, “It’s a fun teaser that will see Salman talking about his return to the show in typical Bhaijaan lingo. He will also call out to the audience for the auditions and inform them of the procedure to participate in the show.”

For the third season, the makers have developed an app through which the common man can participate in the show. With the team currently developing the app, the auditions will begin only next month. Following the screening process, the show will go on floors in May (after Khan would have wrapped up Race 3) and will air in June this year.

The unit hand also reveals that the new season will see certain changes. “While the last two seasons saw several Bollywood stars coming as guests, we won’t have any celebrity guests this year. It will focus only on the aam junta,” says the source. It is already known that the new season will also employ the second screen format, which will allow viewers to answer the questions through the app, at the same time as the contestants.

Veteran Bollywood actor Jeetendra was on Wednesday accused of sexually harassing his cousin, who has come forward to file a police complaint 47 years after the alleged incident.

Jeetendra, whose real name is Ravi Kapoor, is the son of the victim’s father’s sister.

The victim made the allegation in a police complaint filed with Himachal Pradesh’s Director General of Police. A copy of the complaint is with IANS.

As per the complaint, the incident took place in January 1971, when the victim was 18 and Jeetendra was 28. It happened when he “arranged” for the victim to join him from New Delhi to Shimla on the set of his movie without the complainant’s “awareness”.

The victim has claimed that on the night they reached Shimla, Jeetendra returned to the room in an inebriated state, joined the two separate beds and sexually assaulted her.

The allegation comes amid the #MeToo campaign as part of which women have come out about facing sexual abuse at the hands of powerful men. While several ladies have accused Hollywood’s powerful men, the Hindi film industry — while admitting the prevalence of abuse — have not named and shamed as openly.

Jeetendra, now 75, is a well-known name in the Hindi film industry. He is also a film producer, and has daughter Ekta and son Tusshar with wife Shobhaa.