Anu Aggarwal says she was never fully paid for Aashiqui: 'They still owe me 40 per cent'

It’s been 35 years since Aashiqui made Anu Aggarwal a household name, but the actor claims she has still not been paid her full dues for the 1990 musical blockbuster. The film, co-produced by T-Series founder Gulshan Kumar and Vishesh Films (headed by Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt), was a turning point in Aggarwal’s career, but one that, according to her, came with financial injustice.Speaking to Pinkvilla, Anu revealed that she was only paid 60% of the fees she was promised for Aashiqui. “They still owe me the 40%,” she said. Despite this, she clarified that she never reached out to the filmmakers to recover the remaining amount. “It’s okay, I earned a lot,” she added, explaining that her income from modelling far exceeded what she made from films.Anu, who also starred in King Uncle and Mani Ratnam’s Thiruda Thiruda, reflected on how she became one of the earliest actors, male or female, to endorse brands in India. She claimed that before her, only cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar were seen as brand ambassadors. “There wasn’t even a male actor who was a brand ambassador back then,” she said. Accepting her unpaid dues with grace, she remarked, “Theek hai yaar. Ye meri gift hai unko (It’s okay. This is my gift to them).”However, the former actor didn’t shy away from commenting on the murky financial practices in the film industry of the ’90s. She recalled how artists who demanded their rightful payments were often subjected to malpractices. “It was a dirty business,” she said, adding that the film world was heavily influenced by underworld figures like Dawood Ibrahim during that era. According to her, much of the money flowing into Bollywood at the time came from illicit sources and transactions were often “under the table.”Anu Aggarwal stepped away from acting after Return of Jewel Thief in 1996.