Farah Khan made her directorial debut with the 2004 Bollywood film ‘Main Hoon Na’. In her recent vlog, the filmmaker visited actress Amrita Rao’s home, where she reminisced their early days in the industry and about the casting process for the film. She revealed that initially, Ayesha Takia was chosen for the lead role, the actress opted out just two weeks before shooting began to work on a project with director Imtiaz Ali.Casting challenges faced by Farah KhanThe filmmaker, during her visit, shared a memorable incident, recounting how, just two weeks before the shoot began, the original actress cast as Sanjana Bakshi – Ayesha Takia – left the project.
Farah said, “2 hafta pehle shoot ke, heroine nahi thi aur shoot pakki hogayi thi (The shoot was finalised, but we didn’t have the heroine even 2 weeks before it). We booked St Paul’s Darjeeling, and everyone came there. We first finalised Ayesha Takia but she went to do some Imtiaz Ali film and 60 din ka shoot bolke pure 2 mahine shoot pe hi rahi (She said 60 days shoot and was there for 2 months). 2 weeks were left and I was calling her that your costume and everything has not been done, and she said I won’t be able to come, Imtiaz sir is still shooting.”Discovering Amrita Rao’s unique appealFarah then recalled, “Then Gauri Khan told me check this girl (Amrita) out, she looked completely not my character. Because she was wearing this kurta. I gave her the main scene where she cries, and Amrita ka hai ki agar usko camera pe dekho toh she is fire but normal dekho toh she is okay (Amrita has this quality that when you see her on camera, she looks fire but off camera she is okay). And this quality Sridevi had.”Amrita Rao’s role and film successIn ‘Main Hoon Na’, Amrita eventually stepped into the role of Sanjana Bakshi, starring opposite Zayed Khan. Featuring leading performances from Shah Rukh Khan and Sushmita Sen, the movie turned out to be a significant commercial hit, amassing approximately Rs 70.40 crore globally on a budget of Rs 25 crore. Meanwhile, Ayesha Takia left ‘Main Hoon Na’ to work on Imtiaz Ali’s film ‘Socha Naa Tha’, which served as Abhay Deol’s debut but did not perform well at the box office.Amrita Rao’s recent workOn the work front, Amrita Rao was last seen in ‘Jolly LLB 3’, a legal comedy-drama directed by Subhash Kapoor. The film featured prominent actors, including Akshay Kumar, Arshad Warsi, Saurabh Shukla, and Huma Qureshi in important roles.
