Boney Kapoor on ‘Wanted’: Why Ayesha Takia nearly lost the Salman Khan film
Prabhu Deva’s Wanted opened the new phase of Salman Khan’s career that made him the king of the box office during the entire decade of 2010.
The 2009 movie played a great part in the shining star’s comeback after a series of unsuccessful films and made him a mass action hero.
The movie which has become a cult classic is mostly associated with its action but also with the rare and novel pairing of Ayesha Takia with the hero.
Boney Kapoor the producer has disclosed that Ayesha was very close to not being a part of the film at all.
Boney Kapoor recalls the making of ‘Wanted’
Wanted is an adaptation of the Telugu blockbuster Pokiri that featured Mahesh Babu as the protagonist. Boney saw it and instantly decided to acquire the Hindi remake rights with Salman as the lead actor.
The filmmaker told Rediff, “I happened to see Puri Jagannadh’s 2006 Telugu blockbuster, Pokiri. I thought Salman would be apt for the character of Radhe, aka Rajveer Shekhavat. I wanted him to see the film and had arranged two preview shows, but because of his hectic schedule, Salman couldn’t make it. I was worried that the Tamil remake would release, and if it was as big a hit as the original, another Bollywood actor or producer would evince an interest in the Hindi remake rights, and like with Ghajini, I would lose out on Pokiri too.”
In the end, Salman saw the movie and said that he liked it. He signed up Prabhu Deva as the director.
Although Boney was looking for a new actress Salman preferred his usual co-star and then girlfriend Katrina Kaif to be in the movie.
Boney recalled, “Salman had suggested Katrina Kaif’s name for the role of the heroine in Wanted, the Hindi remake of Pokiri. But since the character is initially ambivalent about her feelings for Radhe, I reasoned that it would be better if we cast an actress who had never been paired with him before. We toyed with several names, including Genelia D’Souza, before settling for Ayesha Takia.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.hungamaexpress.com ’
