At 16, she was cast in the lead role in Raj Kapoor's 1985 movie, Ram Teri Ganga Maili opposite his youngest son, Rajiv Kapoor.
The film caused a stir in media because of two scenes: One in which Mandakini bathes in a waterfall wearing only a flimsy white saree through which her breasts were clearly visible and another in which she was shown breast-feeding a child.
