She was not the first choice for Khamoshi: The Musical (1996), says Manisha Koirala about her much remembered role in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's directorial debut that marks 28 years since its release on Friday.
Sanjay and she were friends long before they collaborated on the 1996 film and the director was clear that his preferred lead would be either Madhuri Dixit or Kajol, Manisha recalled with a laugh. The two friends got together again in Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, his OTT debut.
"I had done Khamoshi 28 years ago and I was not his first choice for the role. I remember, we had become friends and he just said, 'Manisha, I have written this script, just go through it. You are not acting in it, Kajol and Madhuri are my choices'," the actor told PTI in an interview.
Manisha said she was impressed by what she read and gave Bhansali her feedback.
"It was a brilliant script for any actress. I told him 'Ye dono nahi mili to main hoon, haan?' Luckily, that worked for me," she said.
Khamoshi: The Musical has Koirala playing Annie Braganza, a musically inclined woman caught between following her passion and taking care of her deaf and mute parents, played by Nana Patekar and Seema Biswas.
She was then supposed to work with Bhansali in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) and Devdas (2002) but things didn't work out, right until Heeramandi that released this year.
The 53-year-old said she was "chilling, gardening and in a different world altogether" in her hometown Kathmandu when she got the call for Heeramandi and was just "thrilled" to work with the director again after all these years.
In Heeramandi, a drama set in the red-light district of Lahore at the time of India's freedom struggle, Manisha plays Mallikajaan, who rules over the courtesans of Shahi Mahal.
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