New Delhi: Although a successful actress, Kareena Kapoor has never worked with Sanjay Leela Bhansali. There is a reason. Apparently, Kareena was supposed to play Paro in the 2002 film, Devdas, which was eventually played by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Kareena had revealed that she “was” hurt with Sanjay after he suddenly replaced her despite giving her a signing amount for the movie, News18 reported.
In a 2002 interview with Filmfare, Kareena was asked if she’d ever collaborate with Bhansali considering what happened between them. She said, “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.”
However, Bhansali later clarified that he never gave any kind of confirmation to Kareena regarding her role in Devdas. “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,” Bhansali was quoted as saying by Filmfare, the report added.
