When These Two Actresses Were Offered The Role Of Manjulika In Bhool Bhulaiyaa Before Vidya Balan ( Photo Credit – Still from Bhool Bhulaiyaa )
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Anees Bazmee’s Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 has turned out to be a massive success at the box office following its successor Bhool Bhulaiyaa by Priyadarshan. While the sequel had many iconic moments of its own, one thing which still stands out was Vidya Balan’s iconic role of Avni aka Manjulika.
Talking about the same, did you know that the actress was not the first preference of the director for the role?
Well, before the role of Avni/Manjulika was offered to Vidya Balan, it was originally offered to Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan who rejected it later on. As per the former Miss World, she was not too sure to play a haunted role at the time. After Ash, the role was offered to Rani Mukerji, but even the ‘Black’ actress didn’t show much of an interest in the role. Finally, the role landed on Vidya Balan who did a fantastic job playing Bhool Bhulaiyaa’s Avni and Manjulika.
Vidya Balan’s role of Avni was shown as an archaeologist who suffered from Dissociative Identity Disorder. Because of this mental illness, Avni turned fantasy into reality, making her believe that she is Manjulika. Vidya’s dishevelled hair and smudged eye makeup in the movie along with how she danced to the song “Mere Dholna” was one moment that no one will ever forget.
Along with this, it was also noted that Ameesha Patel, who played the role of Radha in the movie, was also not the first choice of Priyadarshan for the movie. The role of Radha was originally offered to actress Katrina Kaif however the actress decided to reject the role and it was then given to Ameesha. The actress was given a lot of praise for her role.
Priyadarshan’s Bhool Bhulaiyaa was released on big screens on 12th October 2007. The movie had an amazing star cast including Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan, Shiney Ahuja, Ameesha Patel, Paresh Rawal, Manoj Joshi, Rajpal Yadav and many more.
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