Soha Ali Khan recently revealed that Paheli, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Rani Mukerji, was meant to be her big Bollywood debut. She quit her job when she was approached for the film but was replaced after Shah Rukh Khan signed on as the male lead.
What's Happening
- Soha Ali Khan recently spoke to Mashable India about why she left her job at Citibank when she was offered Paheli.
- She said, "It was my first film. I quit Citibank. I had to pay Rs 17,000 as my rent. I was earning a good salary. My plan was to leave for London. I thought I would get a work permit there and eventually settle there. Then Amol Palekar came to me and spoke to me about the script. I had been offered some films because of my brother (Saif Ali Khan) and my mother (Sharmila Tagore)."
- The Rang De Basanti actress continued that she was indeed interested in acting and "definitely the paycheck", but she underestimated how much it took to be an actor at that time.
- Soha further recalled, "Amol Palekar approached me and I said, 'I definitely want to do this.' He said, 'Then you will have to quit your job because it will take a couple of months.' Back then, I didn't understand that if you hadn't been signed or hadn't shot yet, it meant it wasn't 100 per cent certain. I didn't know that, so I quit my job."
- She revealed that Amol Palekar later called to inform her that Shah Rukh Khan had been signed for the film. This excited Soha; however, she was eventually replaced by Rani Mukerji.
- Soha shared, "Amol ji called me and said, 'Shah Rukh Khan is playing the role.' I said, 'Wow, that's amazing.' He said, 'No, you don't understand. That means you are not playing this role. Someone else will be playing it.' I was like, 'Ouch.' Then I was like, 'What do I do now? How do I pay my rent?'"
Soha Ali Khan's Debut
The actress went on to debut with the 2004 Bengali film Iti Srikanta, an adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel Srikanta, in which Soha played the character Kamalata.
That same year, Soha made her Bollywood debut with Anant Mahadevan's Dil Maange More, alongside Shahid Kapoor. She played Neha, one of three girls vying for the same guy.
In A Nutshell
Soha Ali Khan recently opened up about being replaced in Paheli by Rani Mukerji after Shah Rukh Khan joined as the male lead. She added that she hadn't realised how demanding acting in films was in those days.