Farah Khan Recalls How Amrita Rao Landed Main Hoon Na Lead Role
Mumbai, November 8, 2025 – Filmmaker Farah Khan recently opened up about the casting journey of her 2004 directorial debut, Main Hoon Na, during a visit to actress Amrita Rao’s home. She revealed that Ayesha Takia was initially chosen for the lead role but exited the project just two weeks before shooting to work on director Imtiaz Ali’s film Socha Naa Tha.
Casting Challenges
Farah recalled the last-minute scramble:
“The shoot was finalised, but we didn’t have the heroine even two weeks before it. We had booked St Paul’s Darjeeling, and everyone came there. We first finalised Ayesha Takia, but she went to do an Imtiaz Ali film. I was calling her about her costume and everything, and she said she couldn’t come—Imtiaz sir was still shooting.”
Discovering Amrita Rao
It was Gauri Khan who suggested Farah consider Amrita Rao for the role of Sanjana Bakshi. Farah noted:
“Amrita had this quality that when you see her on camera, she is fire, but off camera she is okay. It reminded me of Sridevi. I gave her the main scene where she cries, and she nailed it completely.”
Amrita eventually stepped into the role, starring opposite Zayed Khan, while the film featured Shah Rukh Khan and Sushmita Sen. The movie was a commercial success, grossing approximately Rs 70.40 crore worldwide on a budget of Rs 25 crore.
Meanwhile, Ayesha Takia’s project with Imtiaz Ali, Socha Naa Tha, marked Abhay Deol’s debut but underperformed at the box office.
Amrita Rao’s Recent Work
On the professional front, Amrita Rao was last seen in Jolly LLB 3, a legal comedy-drama directed by Subhash Kapoor, featuring actors Akshay Kumar, Arshad Warsi, Saurabh Shukla, and Huma Qureshi.
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