It has been 18 years since Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor made their acting debut with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s romantic drama Saawariya in 2007. Before that, Ranbir and Sonam worked as assistant directors on Bhansali’s previous directorial, Black (2005). While Bhansali thought they were both stars when he first met them, they insisted on working with them as advertisers first.
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“I was studying at a visual arts school abroad when I first saw Devdas (2002), and I became a huge fan of Mr. Bhansali,” Ranbir recalls in the video detailing the making of Saawariya. Bhansali’s Devdas, an adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s 1917 romantic novel, stars Shah Rukh Khan in the titular role, alongside Aishwarya Rai as Paro and Madhuri Dixit as Chandramukhi.
After Ranbir Kapoor moved to India after his graduation, he visited Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s office and dropped his resume for the position of AD. “That’s the day I told him, ‘But you’re an actor. You have to be an actor,” Bhansali recalls. Ranbir recalls replying, “So, I said, ‘No sir.’ I really want to get basic filmmaking experience from you.”
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For the role of leading lady Sakina in Saawariya, Bhansali wanted to cast a classic face on the lines of legendary actors of the past like Rekha and Madhubala. He thought the last face was Madhuri’s face, until he came across Sonam Kapoor’s face. “I was 86 kg when my sir said to me: ‘Sona Bachcha, you are my heroine.’” Sonam said with a laugh. “Even if he was overweight like she was at that time, I still consider her the heroine,” Bhansali admitted.
He recalls after Sonam started working on losing weight slowly after Bhansali promised to make her the heroine in his next film after Black. “After two and a half years, I didn’t even realize she had lost weight because I saw her in front of me every day,” Bhansali said. The director felt that black was a rich training ground for both Ranbir and Sonam.
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“They knew me very well. They knew what I liked and what I didn’t like, what made me happy, what made me angry. I think they understood my mind completely. The moment I saw them they were stars. They had the potential to become great stars. I won’t say actors, but I will do it as stars,” Bhansali said.
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Before they hit the floors, Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor underwent intensive acting training for two months. “Even though Ranbir is Mr. Rishi Kapoor’s son and Sonam is Anil Kapoor’s daughter, he (Bhansali) treated them as assistants,” revealed Salman Khan, who reunited with Sanjay Leela Bhansali eight years after their 1999 romantic blockbuster Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam to play the small role of Iman in Saawariya.
(Tags for translation)Sanjay Leela Bhansali
