'Someone else's lips were...': When director secretly filmed Sridevi's kissing scene despite her refusal, lead actor was superstar.., film was..

If Rajesh Khanna was referred to as the first superstar of Indian cinema, Sridevi also earned the title of being the first female superstar of Indian cinema, remaining at the top of her game for almost 50 years. Sridevi worked in over 300 films in her career and was renowned for her versatility, having worked in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada films. However, there was one incident in her career as an actress that left everyone shocked. Sridevi was shooting for Umesh Mehra's Guru when a kiss landed them in a legal suit. 

In one of the scenes in the film, Sridevi had to share a kiss with none other than Mithun Chakraborty. But Sridevi, who avoided even touching anyone, became uncomfortable with the idea of ​​doing this scene. Sridevi's denial did not hurt Mithun Chakraborty, but the director, Umesh Mehra, was taken aback by her refusal. There was a time when there were rumours about the alleged relationship between Sridevi and Mithun Chakraborty, but during this time, their relationship deteriorated. Mithun Chakraborty was already married to Yogeeta Bali at the time. 

According to an article in Stardust in 1989, Umesh Mehra had to face a difficult situation when Sridevi demanded that he remove her kiss scene. Initially, Sridevi seemed to have agreed to do a lip-kissing scene with Mithun Chakraborty in the film. However, when the two parted ways abruptly, Sridevi did not want that scene to be included in the movie. She asked the makers to drop that kissing scene from Guru.

When Sridevi opposed a kiss scene, demanded its removal, and took the matter to court, an early assertion of artistic consent in Bollywood.
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Sridevi even threatened the filmmakers with legal action if the kiss scene was not removed. However, in a later interview, when asked about the circumstances around Guru, Sridevi's mother refused all the allegations and said that the makers used a duplicate to shoot this scene, and cheated her daughter. 

Sridevi's mother reportedly said that the actress had always disagreed with giving the kiss and that it was the filmmakers who were in the wrong because they could do such scenes using any duplicate and show that Sridevi had done them.

In another interview, Sridevi referred to working with Umesh Mehra in Guru as her worst experience. "The kissing problem of Guru was a nightmare. Someone else's lips were used for a kiss, even though I had said I wouldn’t allow this to be done by a stand-in. My parents saw the film and were very upset. And the director, Umesh Mehra, even claimed that I had actually done the kissing scene. That has been my worst experience in the film industry. I'm not sure why I should kiss someone I don't know. Others can do it, but I can't."

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