Andaaz director Suneel Darshan recalls Priyanka Chopra's voice reminded him of Rekha, says ‘Nobody had faith in her…'

Indian Express

2 days ago

In 2003, the audience witnessed quite a remarkable feat with the film Andaaz, as it featured Miss Universe Lara Dutta and Miss World Priyanka Chopra. Recently, in an exclusive interview with India Today, the film's director, Suneel Darshan, revealed that both actresses who made their debut with Andaaz were not the first choice.
Suneel shared that he initially wanted to cast an established actress like Karisma Kapoor or Kareena Kapoor in Andaaz along with Akshay Kumar. The filmmaker said, 'They were not in the film. When the film was planned, it only had Akshay Kumar. He was a part of everything that was happening. It was a foregone conclusion that either Karisma Kapoor or Kareena Kapoor would play one of the leads. Then, there was another big female star who wanted to be a part of the film – I won't name her.'
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He added, 'But I just thought there was no freshness coming out of it as a proposal. I said I need to do something about it, there was a little bit of difference on certain issues with one of them. Also, I felt they were not complementing each other in the film. So, I had to find two girls who could complement each other.'
Opening up about Lara Dutta's casting in the film, Suneel Darshan shared, 'Destiny played its game. Lara was known. She had done a photo shoot with Akshay Kumar for a magazine cover, and I had seen that. I said, 'That was interesting.' So, I called for her. She was in Bangalore, where her parents lived. She came in immediately. The next morning, she was in town and we spoke. She was more than happy to be a part of the cinema because she had actually done videos before that, which I didn't know at the time. Maybe if I had known, I would have had second thoughts. But I thought she was fresh, she was available, and we wanted to make a movie in a quick timeframe.'
Recalling his first meeting with Priyanka Chopra, Suneel said, 'The second lead had to be someone who could match Lara. And out of the blue, again destiny played its game. I was sitting in my chamber, and I got a call. An actor's secretary had come with a girl he wanted to introduce me to. My system is – when a newcomer comes in, I meet them. That day, it was Prakash Jaju, who was Priyanka Chopra's secretary. She was Miss World. My first response was not wow. But later, she groomed herself – evolved is the right word. Fifteen minutes into the conversation, I observed her eyes and said to myself, 'Iski aankhein kya kamaal hai, aur iski awaaz Rekha ki yaad dilati hai (Her eyes are so wonderful, and her voice reminds me of Rekha).''
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'That day I was sure – this is Rekha coming back. I had known Rekha ji earlier. But except for me, nobody else involved in the film saw that or had faith. They were more supportive of Lara and her personality. Priyanka was a different ball game. But I was very sure Priyanka Chopra was going to be a top star,' the filmmaker added.
Suneel Darshan even shared how Akshay Kumar was very courteous to his leading ladies and revealed that the set became quite fun with all three actors communicating in Punjabi.
Andaaz was released in 2003 and went on to become a hit at the box office.