Hindi film and television actor Bakhtiyaar Irani recently claimed that he was supposed to feature in Sara Ali Khan’s Ae Watan Mere Watan, but was replaced at the last minute. In an interview, Bakhtiyaar revealed which character he was supposed to play in the historical biopic produced by Karan Johar‘s Dharmatic Entertainment, and said that he had even lost 8 kgs for the role, after he was told that he was too bulky. Bakhtiyaar said that he was on the verge of signing the contract, and had already told his closest friends and family members that he’d bagged the project.
Appearing on Inside The Mind With Rushabh, Bakhtiyaar said, “The director calls me, it’s (a Karan Johar production). I didn’t know, I thought I was meeting Kanan (Iyer) the director. I met him, he told me that I am very well built, but in the 1940s, people were puny. So I lost 8 kgs in one and a half months and went back to him. He said, ‘Very good, agle (next) week contract signing’. Everything was done. I told my wife and family and my close circle of friends about it, I told about 30 people as I was signing it the next day. I wondered what could go wrong, so I told them. But then it didn’t happen. This is the character that Emraan Hashmi and Sara Ali Khan come to (for help). He has a radio and knows how to make a radio, and that’s who Sara Ali Khan makes a radio with…”
When asked what role he was going to play in Ae Watan Mere Watan, Bakhtiyaar said, “The Parsi guy…” On why he didn’t get the role, he said, “Nazar lagi hogi yaar. Naseeb mein nahi hoga (It must’ve been my bad luck).”
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When asked if he got any feedback about why he didn’t get the role, the actor said, “Bigger name, (not) a good actor… and I have gone through auditions, proper auditions. Kanan, the director, he loved me. Everything was proper. But I decided not to talk about it… But it was a very big jhatka for me because (it would have been a big opportunity) for me.”
The role Bakhtiyaar is talking about was portrayed by Anand Tiwari, who played Firdaus Engineer in the film. Anand Tiwari directed the upcoming Dharma film Bad Newz, starring Vicky Kaushal, Triptii Dimri and Ammy Virk.
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