Sushmita Sen reveals Farah Khan apologised to her for the lack of screen time in Main Hoon Na

Sushmita Sen recently gave an interview where she talked about her role as Chandni Chopra in Main Hoon Na (2004), and how despite it being a small role, it was still powerful. She also shared how the late filmmaker Yash Chopra had praised her performance. Additionally, she mentioned that the posters for the film were taken down a day after its release and replaced with new ones featuring her alongside Shah Rukh Khan.

According to Sushmita, Main Hoon Na has become a defining moment in her career as people tend to revisit the film often. In an interview with a leading portal, Sushmita said, “Farah Khan called my director, and said, ‘Sush, I have seen the final edit and I have to apologise to you. Shah Rukh of course has the role, Zayed and Amrita have a role, but you are barely there’. So I was like, ‘That is okay Farah, we had a deal, you kept through the promise, and I kept through it. It is done, now don’t worry about it’. But inside I was thinking, ‘Oh no, I am barely there!’ The screening happened at Film City. My phone starts ringing. And I don’t know why Yash ji (Yash Chopra) is calling me, the whole gamut of the industry is calling. So ab darr darr ke I pick up the phone.”

Sushmita remembered receiving praise for her work and being told that the person couldn’t take their eyes off of her, and hoped that she would be in every frame of the second half. However, she did not attend the screening because Farah had informed her that she was only present minimally in the film, and she feared feeling disappointed.

She further stated, “From the response, I knew something had changed. The role had not changed, the impact had. The role was still as small as it was, but it was powerful enough. The reaction of the audience was so intense that the first posters of Main Hoon Na all over Bombay had Zayed Khan, Amrita Rao and Shah Rukh and Shah Rukh alone. By Saturday, after the film had been released, there was Shah Rukh and me on every poster. That is the power of people and audience, and I have huge respect for that… the audiences were like ‘We want her, we want to see her up there with him (Shah Rukh)’. Farah called me and said ‘All the posters were being brought down and new ones are being put up. You better go for a drive today’. And I did.”

Released in 2003, Main Hoon Na was written and directed by Farah Khan and marked her directorial debut. The movie features Shah Rukh Khan, Sushmita Sen, Suniel Shetty, Amrita Rao, and Zayed Khan. The story revolves around Major Ram Sharma, who goes undercover as a university student to safeguard a general’s daughter from a rogue soldier who poses a threat to her safety. In the film, Sushmita plays the role of chemistry professor Miss Chandini, Shah Rukh Khan’s characters’ love interest.

See Also: Does Sushmita Sen have more chemistry with Salman Khan or Shah Rukh Khan? Here’s what she said