Aishwarya Rai was the first choice for English Vinglish.
Boney Kapoor revealed that he convinced the makers to cast Sridevi and not Aishwarya Rai in English Vinglish.
Late actress Sridevi’s English Vinglish remains one of her most popular films today. Her convincing portrayal of the sweet Shashi who tries to learn English in the USA to get her family to respect her won everyone’s hearts. However, Boney Kapoor recently revealed that the film was supposed to be made with Aishwarya Rai till he convinced the makers to cast Sridevi instead.
Boney Kapoor told Zoom TV, “English Vinglish first was planned, Gauri was supposed to do it with Aishwarya Rai and Balki wanted to do it with Sri in South Indian languages. I pursued him ki ‘Why do you want to do only regional language with her?’ There couldn’t be anybody better to do the Hindi version too. She will be more convincing as a person who can’t speak English. She’s (Aishwarya) been Miss India. I mean, I don’t know if this should be there or not. I feel she’s (Sridevi) is far more suited than anybody else.”
Watch the video here:
Boney Kapoor often speaks fondly of his late wife Sridevi in interviews. Sridevi and Boney got married in 1996. While Boney already had two children from his first marriage with Mona (Arjun Kapoor and Anshula Kapoor), he welcomed two daughters — Janhvi Kapoor and Khushi Kapoor — with Sridevi.
Meanwhile, on the work front, Boney Kapoor is currently gearing up for the release of his production Maidaan, which stars Ajay Devgn. Maidaan is based on football coach Syed Abdul Rahim, under whose leadership the Indian football team won the Asian Games in 1951 and 1962. The sports drama will be released on April 10. The film will clash with Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff’s upcoming action film, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan. Boney Kapoor also has No Entry 2 and Wanted 2 in the pipeline.
