Padmini Kolhapure made headlines internationally after she greeted Prince Charles with a garland and a peck on his cheek during his visit to India in 1980. Thereafter she reportedly became the woman who kissed Prince Charles.
In a throwback interview with a news portal in 2013, Padmini spoke about it in detail. She said that Prince Charles was visiting Mumbai and he wanted to see a shoot. During that time, the actress was shooting for ‘Ahista Ahista’ at a studio in Mumbai. The actress revealed that Shashikalaji did his Indian aarti and she just greeted him with a peck on his cheek. However, she admitted that in those days, it became a big thing. She remembered going to London for a holiday and this British immigration officer asked her, ‘Are you the same person who kissed Prince Charles?’ The actress added that she was left embarrassed.
In an exclusive interview with Etimes, Padmini had said that she rejected films that eventually went to Sridevi, Rekha, and Rati Agnihotri. She said, “I was offered Rati Agnihotri's role in 'Ek Duuje Ke Liye', Rekha's role in 'Silsila', and Sridevi's role in 'Tohfa', but I couldn't do them for some reason or the other. You can't grab every film that comes your way, If a film does well to the magnitude that 'RTGM' did, you do feel that you should have been a part of it. 'RTGM' did astoundingly well, Mandakini did a good job, and the songs were beautiful. But then, Rajji knew my inhibitions. He knew exactly why I wasn't doing it.”
Padmini began her career in Bollywood as a child artist. Even then, she played some notable roles in films including Raj Kapoor's ‘Satyam Shivam Sundaram’ where she played the role of a young Zeenat Aman. The actress also has films like, ‘Prem Rog’, ‘Souten’, ‘Woh Saat Din’, and ‘Pyar Jhukta Nahin’ to her credit.
