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Not Alia Bhatt, but Aishwarya Rai was Imtiaz Ali initial choice for Highway; says, 'I didn’t want to cast a…'
Imtiaz Ali has revealed that he initially envisioned Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in the character of Highway that Alia Bhatt played eventually. The filmmaker revealed how the young star convinced him.
Imtiaz Ali’s Highway was a milestone in actress Alia Bhatt’s career, but did you know that she was nowhere close to who the filmmaker envisioned as Veera? In a recent interview with Mid-Day, Ali revealed that he imagined the movie’s lead as a mature woman but luckily changed his mind after meeting Alia. The seasoned director recalled meeting Bhatt during the screening of Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana, and he hadn’t seen her debut movie by then.
Imtiaz revealed that he started talking to Alia Bhatt and felt some kind of warmth from her. “Emotional quotient was very high, and I was very drawn to talk to her, and she was talking very nicely," Ali said, adding that when he talked to the actress about deeper things like home and society, her true voice started to come out.
He added that he always wanted to cast some old, around 30s. He said he didn't want to cast a mature woman who has had all the experiences in her life. Imtiaz Ali said he never wanted a young person to pull off this character, but after meeting Bhatt, he realized that he was only looking for emotional depth, and the ‘young girl’ had it all.
This is when Imtiaz also admitted that the former Miss World could have been Cinderella for his shoe. He said, “Aishwarya Rai without any makeup would be a great choice, but I didn't approach anybody.”
The 53-year-old also looked back at the time when John Abraham was his first choice to play Jordan in Rockstar, a role that redefined Alia’s husband Ranbir Kapoor’s career.
Rockstar, released in 2011, was both a commercial and critical success. The musical drama also starred Nargis Fakhri, Aditi Rao Hydari, Piyush Mishra, Shernaz Patel, Kumud Mishra, Sanjana Sanghi, Aakash Dahiya, and Shammi Kapoor in key roles.
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