Preity Zinta Refused To Work With Irrfan Because He “Wasn’t A Commercial Actor” She Was Asked To Leave A Film By Vishal Bharadwaj, But A Funny Thing Happened Next!
Preity Zinta was the OG choice for Ishqiya with Irrfan, but the actress demanded another actor and was dropped from the film in an instant!
Irrfan & Preity Zinta Were The OG Choices For Ishqiya, But Preity Zinta Demanded Another Actor & Was Dropped From The Film ( Photo Credit – Facebook; IMDb )
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It has been quite some time since we lost the Greatest actor of our time – the legendary Irrfan. Losing him felt like a personal loss. However, he has been cherished every single day with the body of work he left behind. However, do you know there were so many more films he could have done? Films – that were offered to him, but he could not do them.
One such film was Abhishek Chaubey’s Ishqiya, which was written by Vishal Bharadwaj. Vishal and Irrfan had a heavenly connection, and they were an integral part of each other’s professional lives. In fact, they were inseparable. So obviously, when Bharadwaj wrote the film, Irrfan was one of the main characters.
The role, which was later played by Vidya Balan, was initially offered to Preity Zinta, who was very interested in the film but wanted another lead actor since she doubted Irrfan’s ‘commercial caliber.’ The minute she raised a doubt, she was dropped from the film.
However, later, even Irrfan did not work in the film, which irked his close aide Vishal Bharadwaj so much that he did not talk to him for three long years! However, why did not Irrfan sign the film? It was because of an assumed fact that triggered a miscommunication of sorts.
During an interview with Lallantop, Vishal Bharadwaj himself narrated about this epic casting coup. He confirmed that Irrfan was to star in Ishqiya and endearingly said, “Irrfan ke bina hum kuch sochte he nahi the zindagi mein (We never thought of making a film without Irrfan at that time). And Irrfan had agreed to do the film. But when we reached out to him for the film, he told us that he has signed some other film for those dates.”
Irrfan’s reason for signing another film was No Smoking. The 2007 film was produced by Vishal Bharadwaj and directed by Anurag Kashyap, and it tanked at the box office. Irrfan told Vishal, “Mujhe laga ab toh aapki film No Smoking pit gayi, ab toh aap film banaoge he nahi (I thought your previous film No Smoking bombed at the box office, so you will not make films now).”
Vishal Bharadwaj, in the same interview, narrated, “We had said no to a big actress for Ishqiya because she had refused to work with Irrfan as he wasn’t a commercial actor. I got very angry with him and didn’t speak to him for 2-3 years. I didn’t pick up his calls.”
Later, obviously, Vishal Bharadwaj and Irrfan sorted their differences, and the filmmaker was so affected by his death that he wrote an entire screenplay, ‘Irrfan Aur Main, ‘ penning down every moment he spent with Irrfan after he was diagnosed with cancer.
Irrfan‘s friends and fans are celebrating his memories today, marking his birth anniversary on January 7. You live in our hearts, Sir, now and forever!
Thank You for giving us cinema in its purest form.
