Himani Shivpuri opens up on her absence from Dharma Production films.
Veteran actor Himani Shivpuri opened up on why she’s been absent from Karan Johar’s films after Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.
Veteran actor Himani Shivpuri opened up on why she’s been absent from Dharma Productions’ films after her appearances in Karan Johar’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. In a candid chat with Siddharth Kannan, Himani suggested that her “bindaas” comment on the last day of the K3G shoot could be the reason. She reminisced about her “lovely role” in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and her part in K3G, but during the casting of Kal Ho Naa Ho, she began to sense that something was wrong, suspecting she might have offended Karan Johar.
“During the last scene (of K3G), Karan Johar came to me and said, ‘Lovely working with you Himani ji, you are my lucky mascot!’ I told him ‘please, from next time, give me a good role’. He said ‘yes Himani ji, I will’.” The actor then remembered running into Nikkhil Advani at a screening, where he mentioned that Kal Ho Naa Ho was about to begin shooting and expressed his interest in having her on board.
She recalled, “I asked Yash Johar, who was standing there, for signing amount and he gave me a dollar! I told my secretary that he should meet Nikkhil because I spoke to him but when he met them, he was told there was no such role for me. Then a few more Dharma films went by, I was not called, so I was left wondering what was happening.”
Himani Shivpuri recalled meeting Karan Johar at an award show later and asking him why she wasn’t cast in Kal Ho Naa Ho, even though Nikkhil Advani had approached her for the role. Karan told her that he didn’t have a good role for her.
She said, “Karan told me, ‘No no Himani ji, that role wasn’t good enough for you. Aapke layak role hoga na tab bulayege aapko (If there is something that is good enough for you, we will call you). Then it struck me, ki meri baat shayad lag gayi (that what I told him, he got offended). That’s where the chapter ended. I do feel bad, it used to be a lot of fun. We would gossip a lot and were good pals. Maybe we didn’t meet so often that we could break the ice.”
In Karan Johar’s debut film, Himani Shivpuri portrayed Riffat Bi, the hostel warden who helps reunite Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol’s characters.
