Sushmita Sen and Shah Rukh Khan in a song from Main Hoon Na.
Sushmita Sen got candid about playing a chemistry teacher in Shah Rukh Khan starrer Main Hoon Na.
Main Hoon Na established choreographer Farah Khan as a successful director. The movie not only gained attention for its leading star Shah Rukh Khan but also for its strong supporting cast. One such standout performance was by Sushmita Sen, who portrayed the character of Chandani Chopra (Miss Chandani), SRK’s on-screen chemistry teacher and love interest. Sushmita Sen:s portrayal was loved by audiences. However, what many may find interesting is that even though Sushmita Sen’s scenes were reduced in the final edit, the actress still considers it a turning point in her career.
In an interview with Humans Of Bombay, Sushmita Sen recalled that Farah Khan had apologised to her over call for snipping her scenes in the final edit, ” Farah called me and said, ‘Sush, I have seen the final edit and I have to apologise to you, Shah Rukh of course has the role, Zayad, Amrita, everybody has a role, you are barely there. I am just like, ‘That’s ok Farah, you kept through the deal, I kept through. Don’t worry about it.’ But inside I was like, ‘Oh oh, I am barely there in the film.’”
She continued, “The screening happens at Film City and my phone starts ringing. The whole industry is calling. I hesitantly pick up the phone and Yash ji was like, ‘Kya kaam kiya hai bachche, I couldn’t take my eyes off of you. It’s just the interval and I hope you are there in every frame of the second half.’ I missed out on that. From that response, I knew something has changed. I didn’t go for the screening because I was feeling bad about being barely there. The role was still as small as it was but it was powerful enough and the reaction of the audience was so intense.”
Well, it turned out that the fans at the time had taken a liking to this fresh Jodi and the old posters that didn’t feature Sushmita Sen were pulled down and replaced with her face on it, “The first posters of Main Hoon Na either had Shah Rukh, Zayed and Amrita or Shah Rukh alone. By Saturday, after the film had released, there was Shah Rukh and I on every hoarding. Farah called me and said, ‘We have pulled down all the old posters and have put the new ones. You better go for a drive today.’ That is the power of people and the audience,” the actress shared.
Alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Zayed Khan, Main Hoon Na has an impressive lineup of talented actors including Sushmita Sen, Amrita Rao, Naseeruddin Shah, Kirron Kher and Suniel Shetty, among others.
