Released in the year 2000, the film 'Mela' completed 25 years on January 7. The film featured Twinkle Khanna, Aamir Khan and Faisal Khan in lead roles. However, few people know that the film was offered to Aishwarya Rai before Twinkle. Apart from this, she was going to debut in Bollywood with Dharmesh Darshan's film 'Raja Hindustani'. Now the director of the film Dharmesh Darshan has given the reason behind casting Twinkle instead of Aishwarya.
In a recent interview to Bollywood Hungama, director Dharmesh Darshan was asked if Aishwarya Rai was really the first choice for 'Mela'? To this he said, Yes, he was my first choice to play the role of Mem Sahib in the film 'Raja Hindustani' (1996). My heart wanted to cast him. But at that time she had to go to Argentina for Miss World. I didn't want to take any chances. I wanted an actress who could give full time to films and Bollywood.
It was a good thing he didn't take this to heart. This is the reason why she agreed to do a cameo for me in the film 'Mela'. He was paired not with Aamir but with Faisal. An actress of her stature who had worked with Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, yet she got ready for the cameo and traveled for hours to shoot the scene.
Dharmesh Darshan also said that many women questioned him about casting Twinkle instead of Aishwarya. He said, I met many women who asked me, Sir, you gave a cameo to Aishwarya and gave such a big role to Twinkle Khanna.
In an interview given to Vogue magazine years ago, Aishwarya Rai said that she received 4 big film offers before becoming Miss World, though she turned down all 4 films for the pageant. Aishwarya said that after rejecting the film 'Raja Hindustani', she reached the premiere of the film at the request of Aamir Khan. It was here that Sanjay Leela Bhansali caught his eye and got the film 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam'.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
