MUMBAI: Amrita says MF Husain was initially hesitant to meet her after watching Vivaah

MUMBAI: Actor Amrita
Rao has recalled that the late painter MF
Husain had invited her and her mother to Dubai to paint her live.
However, he was apprehensive about the ‘real’ Amrita being true to her
on-screen persona in the film Vivaah. Amrita also revealed that he gifted her
his ‘signature’ paintbrush.

Amrita
Rao had impressed MF Hussain with her performance in the 2006 film Vivaah.
Directed by Sooraj Barjatya, the film also featured Shahid
Kapoor in the lead role. A few years ago, she had shared a video in
which MF Hussain painted her portrait.

Speaking
to a leading daily on his birth anniversary, Amrita said, “Husain sahab had
invited me and my mom to Dubai to be his guest while he wanted to paint me
live. On the last day of our visit, he confessed to my mom that he was
initially hesitant to meet me in person, apprehensive, that if the ‘real’
Amrita was not true to her on screen persona in Vivaah then he would be disillusioned
after having met me.” She added that after meeting her he had said that
she ‘surpassed his expectation and called her ‘far more beautiful as a person
in real life than I expected’. Amrita also said, “This is when he
presented me with his signature brush! He said, ‘Remember only 3 people in the
world own it’, he added’.”

She also
said, “I recall the first time I met Husain sahab, he had come to receive
us at the Dubai airport, I noticed him walking barefoot holding onto a long
black paintbrush which he used as his signature walking stick. I thought it was
such a unique and stylish statement. On the last day when he gave me that brush
as a parting gift along with a compliment I was so moved that I had tears in my
eyes.”

A few
years ago, in an interview with Zoom, Amrita was reminded that MF Husain once
said that after Madhuri Dixit, hers was
the only face that excited him. Amrita had called the compliment ‘historic’.
Amrita had said, “That is one of the best compliments. And, it is going to
be, I think a historic compliment when I look back at my profile, my
career.”

Amrita
Rao has featured in several films including Main Hoon Na, Masti, and Welcome To
Sajjanpur. She tied the knot with RJ Anmol in 2016 and in 2020 welcomed their
first child, a boy named Veer. She made her comeback in 2019 with Nawazuddin
Siddiqui-starrer Thackeray.