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Did you know Aishwarya Rai was replaced in Heroine by Madhur Bhandarkar because she was pregnant?
Did you know that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan had signed the 2012 film Heroine and had hidden about her pregnancy from the director Madhur Bhandarkar?
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan made her acting debut in Mani Ratnam's 1997 Tamil film Iruvar and had her first Hindi film Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya release in the same year. Her first commercial success was the Tamil romantic drama Jeans (1998), following which she achieved wider success with films like Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam in 1999, Devdas in 2002, Raincoat in 2004, Dhoom 2 in 2006, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil in 2016 and more. But did you know that Aishwarya was supposed to play the lead role in Madhur Bhandarkar's 2012 film Heroine which was later played by Kareena Kapoor Khan?
Aishwarya was replaced by the makers because she was pregnant with her first child at that time. The filmmaker revealed that Aishwarya had signed the film and hidden about her pregnancy from him. Revealing a few more things about Rai, Madhur Bhandarkar wrote in his blog, "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. " He further said, "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."
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The filmmaker further 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 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, an 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. "
Madhur Bhandarkar was annoyed as Aishwarya had hidden such a big fact from him. He said that Aishwarya should have told on the very first day when he called her to sign his film. He came to know that she is pregnant from a news channel and was shocked. Bhandarkar even quoted saying, "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."
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While Aishwarya had chosen to stay mum on the entire matter, it was her father-in-law, Amitabh Bachchan, who had defended his daughter-in-law and slammed Bhandarkar.
Mr. Bachchan said, "Everybody knew that Aishwarya was married when she signed the film. So you mean to say that actors can't get married or have children? I don't think this can be a part of any contract that you cannot get married or have children if you working on a project. "
Talking about Heroine, the movie revolved around Mahi, an actress who starts losing a grip on herself when her married boyfriend refuses to commit due to the ongoing problems in his life. This leads her towards depression and ultimately her downfall. The movie also stars Arjun Rampal, Randeep Hooda and Rakesh Bapat. Heroine had released on 21 September 2012. Kareena Kapoor’s performance was highly acclaimed in the film.
