Child artiste Harshaali Malhotra has become the talk of the town ever since the first teaser of ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ released two months back. The little girl has won accolades for her endearing performance in the movie and has surely emerged a star.
However, not many are aware that before Harshaali signed ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’, she was approached to play Swara Bhaskar’s childhood role for Sooraj Barjatya’s ‘Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo’ which also stars Salman Khan in the lead.
Reveals Harshaali’s mother, “We had shot for the print bit of the role for PRDP. She was supposed to play Swara’s childhood version. But then later we got a call from the makers of ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’. When things got finalized there, we spoke to Salman about how unfair it would be to have a minuscule appearance in PRDP. He too agreed and that is when we told Sooraj Barjatya. He was humble and understood our point and that is how we backed out.”
Interestingly, not just PRDP, but Harshaali was also offered the childhood role of Katrina Kaif in one of her films. But she rejected that as well on the same grounds.
“When the first teaser of ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ was released, Harshaali was approached to play Katrina’s childhood role in a film. I didn’t even know which film was this. But again, I rejected it because I don’t want Harshaali to do a 5-6 minutes cameo appearance. And also, it would have been too much of a stress for Harshaali. She needed a break and hence I rejected it,” confirms Kajal, Harshaali’s mother.
Incidentally, there have been reports that Salman Khan asked Harshaali to reject the Katrina Kaif starrer. Probe her mother about it and she clarifies, “No, Salman Khan hasn’t asked us to do anything. Though it was there in our contract that she shouldn’t do something during the shoot and release because she had a main role. They required bulk dates from us because she had to shoot with Salman and his availability."
Well, we hope the gossip mongers can rest now since the truth is out!
What say?