Watch: Ali Abbas Zafar reveals he did not alter the script for Katrina Kaif after Priyanka Chopra's exit from Bharat

By Ankita Bhalla

on June 04, 2019

Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif starrer Bharat's director Ali Abbas Zafar recently spoke to PeepingMoon.com about Priyanka Chopra's exit from the film and Katrina's entry. The filmmaker talked about how "fortunate" he was to have Katrina on board. He also revealed if he made any change in the script after PeeCee made an exit.

When asked about Katrina's entry after Priyanka's exit and if he had to modify the script for Katrina, Ali said, "Not at all. Actually, I would say I didn’t change even a single thing. The script that went to Priyanka is exactly the script that went to Katrina and I think I was fortunate enough. At that time she was shooting Thugs and Zero and I told her 'see this is what has happened and why don’t you read this and if you like then we can talk about it'. And we are very close friends but we are very clear about our professional commitments. We never bring our friendship in terms of 'you are my friend you have to do this for me'. She read the script and I was shooting the song with Disha and Salman and after a few hours she called me, I was in the middle of a shot and she said ‘Ali, you know’. I said 'Katrina I will call you back I am in the middle of a shot' and she was like 'no no, listen listen. I read the script, I am doing this part. Please don’t offer it to any other person. Just lock it right there' and I was excited because there is a lot of merit of this character in the film. She is as strong as Bharat and she will also age over 40 years, she also ages with it. There’s something very new to offer to the mainstream Hindi film. And the way it’s come out, I think people are gonna like it."

When asked about his first choice Priyanka's reaction to the trailer, Ali said, "Well, I don’t know if she has watched the trailer. The last time we spoke, I was shooting the last leg of the film. I should actually message and check with her."