Mumbai:
Filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra waskeen on casting Aishwarya Rai for the role of Lalita inParineta as he was not sure of the acting abilities of thennewcomer Vidya Balan.
Vidya made her debut in Bollywood with 2005 hitParineeta, a musical produced by Chopra.
"When we thought of Parineeta, I immediately thought ofa face like Aishwarya Rai. The character of the girl is liketwo men fall in love with her, so the heroine has to bebigger. But Pradeep Sarkar (director) told me about her(Vidya) I was like let me see what she can do," Chopra toldreporters here, last night.
"But then we tested and tried her (Vidya) and shecleared it," he said.
Parineeta was adapted from 1914 Bengali novella of thesame name by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. The film starredVidya, Saif Ali Khan and Sanjay Dutt in pivotal roles.
Talking about other roles -- Shekar that was essayed bySaif Ali Khan and Girish, played by Sanjay Dutt, Chopra said,"I had called up Sanjay saying there is a role for you in myfilm and he agreed. We wanted the character of Girish (Sanjay)to be bigger than Shekar (Saif Ali Khan)."
Also, Rekha, a yesteryear actress had a cameo performancein a night club as a singer in this film.
"For this cameo we went to who's-who of Bollywood butthen we realised it has to be someone who is a classic divaand who better than her (Rekha).
"I had gone to meet her (Rekha) after Chopra had spokento her about the appearance. It was fantastic meetingher. She does her own styling, hair, make-up, photography.Even for the song she had valuable inputs to provide. It wasamazing and we had a wonderful time working with her,"director Pradeep Sarkar said.
Vidya made her debut in Bollywood with 2005 hitParineeta, a musical produced by Chopra.
"When we thought of Parineeta, I immediately thought ofa face like Aishwarya Rai. The character of the girl is liketwo men fall in love with her, so the heroine has to bebigger. But Pradeep Sarkar (director) told me about her(Vidya) I was like let me see what she can do," Chopra toldreporters here, last night.
"But then we tested and tried her (Vidya) and shecleared it," he said.
Parineeta was adapted from 1914 Bengali novella of thesame name by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. The film starredVidya, Saif Ali Khan and Sanjay Dutt in pivotal roles.
Talking about other roles -- Shekar that was essayed bySaif Ali Khan and Girish, played by Sanjay Dutt, Chopra said,"I had called up Sanjay saying there is a role for you in myfilm and he agreed. We wanted the character of Girish (Sanjay)to be bigger than Shekar (Saif Ali Khan)."
Also, Rekha, a yesteryear actress had a cameo performancein a night club as a singer in this film.
"For this cameo we went to who's-who of Bollywood butthen we realised it has to be someone who is a classic divaand who better than her (Rekha).
"I had gone to meet her (Rekha) after Chopra had spokento her about the appearance. It was fantastic meetingher. She does her own styling, hair, make-up, photography.Even for the song she had valuable inputs to provide. It wasamazing and we had a wonderful time working with her,"director Pradeep Sarkar said.
