Image instagrammed by Ameesha. (Courtesy: AmeeshaPatel)
Sunny Deol and Ameesha Patel's Gadar 2 has collected over Rs 500 crore at the box office. It won't be wrong to say that the Anil Sharma directorial has turned out to be a blockbuster comeback for the actress. Ameesha made her Bollywood debut with Rakesh Roshan's Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai in 2000. She starred alongside Hrithik Roshan in the film. Ameesha then went on to work with Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Aamir Khan, Sunny Deol and others. But, she never shared the big screen with Shah Rukh Khan. In a recent interview, Ameesha revealed that she was offered Chalte Chalte. Ameesha Patel told Siddharth Kannan, “Kuch films mujhe pata bhi nahi thi ki mere paas aayi thi. Chalte Chalte was one such film. In fact, jab mai Humraaz ki dubbing kar rahi thi, aur Shah Rukh [Khan] apni Chalte Chalte ki dubbing kar rahe the. Same studio but in a different room, obviously. Aur we bumped into each other and we hugged each other. And inhone kaha ki come Ameesha let me show you a little bit of the film you rejected. I am like ‘I have rejected?' Mujhe pata hi nhi tha that the film was offered to me. So kabhi kabhar people who were managing you also played. [There were some films I didn't even know were offered to me. In fact when I was dubbing for Humraaz, Shah Rukh Khan was also dubbing in the same studio for Chalte Chalte. So when we bumped into each other, he said, ‘Ameesha let me show you a little bit of the film you rejected. I was like ‘I have rejected?' So back in time, a lot of times people who were managing you also played.]”
Ameesha Patel continued, “Aaj director, producers message you directly. Us zamane mai there was a hierarchy of secretaries who did not let the projects get to the actor. [Today, directors and producers directly approach you. At that time, there was a hierarchy of secretaries.]” As we all know, Rani Mukerji played the lead role in Chalte Chalte. The film was released in 2003. Meanwhile, Humraaz featured Ameesha Patel, Bobby Deol and Akshaye Khanna. It was released in 2002.
During the same interview, Ameesha Patel also revealed how she missed out on “a lot of good work, directors and producers because of a mis-manager.” Talking about why filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali never offered her a film, the actress said, “Apparently, the person who was managing my work was not comfortable working with Mr Bhansali (Sanjay Leela Bhansali). After I parted ways with my manager, Mr Bhansali told me, ‘You know there were moments when we were supposed to work together but I did not want to deal with your manager.'”
Ameesha Patel added that Sajid Nadiadwala had told her that he “was scared to approach her because of the person who was managing the work.”
Ameesha Patel is known for films like Gadar: Ek Prem Katha, Bhool Bhulaiyaa, and Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic.