When Madhur replaced THIS actress in Heroine

By Times of India – When Madhur replaced THIS actress in Heroine Kareena Kapoor Khan gave a spectacular performance 2012 release ‘Heroine’, however, she was not the first the choice of the filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar. He had roped in Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to portray the lead role of ‘Mahi Arora’ in the film. The makers replaced her because she was pregnant with her first child. In a blog, Bhandarkar had revealed that Aishwarya had signed the film and hidden about her pregnancy from him.

The filmmaker wrote, “Today I am sitting alone in my office after the plugs being pulled off from my film Heroine… My conscience stands clear as I have been honest with my craft irrespective of the repercussions. No way would I have trampled my dream project on which I have given my sweat and blood for almost 1 1/2 years. This is no normal film which can be shot in a couple of locations with a handful of actors. Heroine is a film that entails a huge canvas of around 40 locations in which heavy-duty scenes involving massive crowds are to be shot, adult content, the regular song and dance sequences and heavy-duty scenes involving hardcore physical exertion.”

Furthermore, he added, “Today, when I know the condition of my then lead actress (Aishwarya) and I shudder at the thought what if instead of my associate she would be the one to be injured; I would have suffered major guilt throughout my life if anything were to happen to her on my guard and direction. The lead actress was required to smoke on the screen….but even if she chose not to smoke for the camera. There are other actors smoking in the same frame entailing to passive smoking which would prove detrimental to a pregnant woman’s health. The actress would have informed the state of her health, impending maternity… The truth was hidden from us. The movie was announced in Cannes on 13th May while we commenced shooting on 7th June… There was a gap of 24 days. Even if we had known the truth behind the state of the actress, things could have been reworked keeping the state of matters in mind accordingly and this crisis could have been averted. I was in a state of total shock and depression… I had been working on the script for almost a year and a half. ”

The filmmaker was quite annoyed as Aishwarya did not inform him about her pregnancy. He said that he came to know that she is pregnant from a news channel. Bhandarkar mentioned, “I could not come to the office for almost 8 days for the fear of facing those people whose bread and butter depended upon the film. Because in a true sense, these people were the worst affected by the turn of events. The entire crisis would have taken a humongous shape had the truth not being unveiled when it was… With 65 days of shooting remaining. It would make the concerned actress 6-7 months pregnant. Cinema is a visual medium and keeping in mind the physical state of the actress the total interpretation of the character of a diva and the story would land up in major jeopardy post 65 days of her pregnancy.”

Although Aishwarya did not choose to comment on the issue, her father-in-law, Amitabh Bachchan had defended her and slammed the ‘Heroine’ producer.

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