Ayesha Takia left Main Hoon Na for Imtiaz Ali's film; Farah Khan replaced her with Amrita Rao: ‘She has Sridevi quality’

Farah Khan revealed that Ayesha Takia was finalised for Main Hoon Na but she ditched just 2 months before the shoot and Gauri Khan recommended Amrita Rao.

Bollywood filmmaker Farah Khan made her Bollywood debut as a director with Main Hoon Na. She recently got nostalgic as she visited Amrita Rao’s house for her vlog. During the vlog, Farah revealed that before Amrita, Ayesha Takia had been finalised for the film, but she left it for Imtiaz Ali’s project.

Farah Khan reveals that not Amrita Rao, but Ayesha Takia was the first choice for Main Hoon Na.

Farah Khan reveals why Ayesha Takia left Main Hoon Na

As Farah visited Amrita’s house, she recalled how, just two weeks before starting the shoot of the film, Ayesha Takia, who was first finalised for the role of Sanjana Bakshi, backed out of the project. Farah said, “2 hafta pehle shoot ke, heroine nahi thi aur shoot pakki hogayi thi (The shoot was finalised, but we didn’t have the heroine even 2 weeks before it). We booked St Paul’s Darjeeling, and everyone came there. We first finalised Ayesha Takia but she went to do some Imtiaz Ali film and 60 din ka shoot bolke pure 2 mahine shoot pe hi rahi (She said 60 days shoot and was there for 2 months). 2 weeks were left and I was calling her that your costume and everything has not been done, and she said I won’t be able to come, Imtiaz sir is still shooting.”

Farah then recalled how Amrita came on board and said, “Then Gauri Khan told me check this girl (Amrita) out, she looked completely not my character. Because she was wearing this kurta. I gave her the main scene where she cries, and Amrita ka hai ki agar usko camera pe dekho toh she is fire but normal dekho toh she is okay (Amrita has this quality that when you see her on camera, she looks fire but off camera she is okay). And this quality Sridevi had.”

Amrita eventually essayed the role of Sanjana opposite Zayed Khan in Main Hoon Na. The film, which also featured Shah Rukh Khan and Sushmita Sen in lead roles, emerged as a major box office success, collecting ₹70.40 crore worldwide against a budget of ₹25 crore. On the other hand, Ayesha left Main Hoon Na for Imtiaz Ali’s Socha Naa Tha, which marked Abhay Deol’s debut. However, it underperformed at the box office.

Amrita Rao’s recent work

Amrita was most recently seen in Jolly LLB 3. Helmed by Subhash Kapoor, the legal comedy-drama also featured Akshay Kumar, Arshad Warsi, Saurabh Shukla and Huma Qureshi in key roles. Made on a reported budget of ₹120 crore, the film collected ₹170 crore worldwide at the box office.