Manisha Koirala
has been getting a lot of accolades for her portrayal of Mallika Jaan in ‘
Heeramandi
‘. She has collaborated with
Sanjay Leela Bhansali
, years after his first movie ‘
Khamoshi
‘ which released in 1996. However, much before casting Manisha, Sanjay had considered many other actresses for the movie. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan had once revealed that he was thinking of casting her in the movie, opposite
Salman Khan
.
Aishwarya had said in an interview once that she was considered for the movie but here’s why she couldn’t do it. The actress had said in a chat with Bollywood Hungama, “At one point, Sanjay considered casting me for Khamoshi. But I’d just gone for the Miss India pageant. He told me this before we started shooting for
Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam
. I’d visited the sets of Dholi Taaro for a recce. When I was walking, my hair was all wavy. He looked at me and said, ‘You know, this is the way I saw you in Khamoshi.’ Then he and Anil Mehta (cinematographer) smiled. And I was like, ‘Really?’ I loved Khamoshi. I loved the music. I was like, ‘Really, Sanjay? You wanted me to be in Khamoshi?’ He said, ‘It’s okay ya, you went and became Miss World.’ And I said, ‘But I lost Khamoshi.’ I kept humming all the songs and thinking what if, what if….”
The actress indeed regretted missing out on the film when she found out she was considered for the part. Though, later, Sanjay and Aishwarya ended up having some iconic collaborations in the form of ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’, ‘Devdas’ and ‘Guzaarish’.
Recently, in an interview with Galatta India, Manisha had also revealed that Sanjay didn’t want to cast her for the film. He wanted to cast Madhuri or Kajol but when Manisha read the script, she told him that she would love to do the film if other actresses said no. “He wanted either Madhuri ji or Kajol. So I said, ‘Agar ye dono na karein na, toh main karungi’ (If they don’t do it, I will). I was very happy that others didn’t do it, and I got the chance,” Manisha revealed.
