Bollywood actress Rani Mukerji was accidentally switched with another newborn at the hospital shortly after her birth, in a mix-up her mother discovered because the babies had different eye colours.
According to a News18 report, Rani was born on 21 March 1978 to filmmaker-producer Ram Mukherjee and his wife, Krishna Mukherjee. She was accidentally taken to a Punjabi couple’s room and reunited with her family only after her mother realised the baby brought to her did not have brown eyes.
Rani once recounted the unusual incident to ABP News. “When I was born, I got stuck in a Punjabi couple’s room. So my mom went and brought me from there. Actually, it is an interesting story that I got exchanged in the hospital. My mother saw the other baby and said, ‘This isn’t my baby. She doesn’t have brown eyes. My daughter has brown eyes. Go and search for my child’.”
She added, “When my mother started searching, there was a Punjabi family who had a daughter for the eighth time. I was there. Even now they joke that ‘You are actually a Punjabi. My mistake, you ended up in our family’.”
Rani later explained to Simi Garewal that the mix-up happened when nurses took newborns for routine check-ups and used identification tags.
“It so happened, I think when babies are born they have been given something… tags. But apparently, the nurse had taken me to do some change and then got me back, and when she got back the baby to my mom, my mom was talking to one of my uncles. So they were chatting, and my mother saw the baby and said, ‘Oh my god! This is not my baby. My daughter has brown eyes. Go and search for my child’.”
The actress had also once told Tribune India, “I may even get married to a Punjabi.”
Her prediction later came true. She married filmmaker Aditya Chopra in a private ceremony in Italy in April 2014. The couple have never made their wedding pictures public. They welcomed their daughter, Adira, in 2015 and keep her away from the limelight.
