Kareena Kapoor Khan is one of the leading actresses in Bollywood currently. She has worked with many directors and essayed many roles which has shaped her career. But do you know she has never worked with Sanjay Leela Bhansali and it has a long story? The actress has slammed the director for replacing her in Devdas even after giving the signing amount. Well, the iconic film starred Aishwarya Rai, Madhuri Dixit, and Shah Rukh Khan in the lead role.
In an old interview with Filmfare, Kareena was quoted saying that she will never work with Sanjay Leela Bhansali ever. “I’ll never. What he did to me was wrong. He screen-tested me for Devdas, gave me a signing amount, then took someone else. That was wrong, it hurt especially because I was at the start of my career. It’s okay, because the day he dropped me, I signed Yaadein. Sanjay hurt me. Even if I have no work, I’ll never work with him,” Kareena said.
Devdas was released in 2002. Based on the 1917 novel of the same name by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, the film narrates the story of Devdas Mukherjee, a wealthy man who returns from London to marry his childhood friend, Parvati. However, the rejection of their marriage by his own family sparks his descent into alcoholism.
When Sanjay was asked about the same, he said that he never confirmed her to be starred in the film. He was quoted saying “She came to my house with Neeta Lulla and said she wanted to work with me… I told her that I hadn’t seen her work and that before casting her, I needed to see what she was capable of. We fixed up a photo shoot with the right costumes. Since Babitaji and Karisma Kapoor were also at the shoot, I made it clear to all of them that the shoot wasn’t a confirmation that I would cast Kareena. They were okay with that at the time. After going through the photographs, I told Kareena that I felt Aishwarya Rai was fabulous and perfect for Paro; she has the aristocratic looks I required. Kareena didn’t say a word then but some days later I found her lashing out at me in print. She accused me of backing out after having given her the signing amount and contract. Believe me, this is not true. She also said I didn’t know how to make films.”
On the work front, Kareena will be next seen in The Crew alongside Kriti Sanon and Tabu.
