Aishwarya Rai Shot Chalte Chalte for a Day, Director Aziz Mirza Reveals Why Rani Mukerji Replaced Her

Aishwarya Rai Shot Chalte Chalte for a Day: The film Chalte Chalte starring Shah Rukh Khan and Rani Mukerji was a box office hit upon release in 2003. The chemistry of the two leads was loved by the fans, and Rani was praised for her performance. But did you know Rani was not the original choice for the film? Aishwarya Rai was said to be the first choice, and she shot for the film for a day. A new interview by director Aziz Mirza with Radio Nasha Official talks about what made that change.

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What the director said

During the interview, Aziz recalled the memories of Chalte Chalte and said, “I don't know. Anyway. These are areas which are unfortunately… we had done only that one song that we had started… that song with the truck named Prem Nagariya ki… that began only for a day and unfortunately the matter did not go ahead. Then Rani came in.”

Next, Aziz stated that Rani did an "excellent" job in the film, wherein she played the character of Priya Chopra.

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More details

Although Aziz did not state the reason directly, many reports have indicated that some personal issues concerning Aishwarya's then-ongoing relationship with and later fallout with Salman Khan were factors in Aishwarya being replaced.

Aishwarya had spoken about this incident on Rendezvous with Simi Garewal, where she mentioned that she never got to know the reason for being removed from a few films in quick succession.

Aishwarya and Shah Rukh went on to work together in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas. The last time these two were seen together was in Karan Johar's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil in 2016. Aishwarya's latest is Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan: 2.

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