Shiney replaced Emraan for Woh Lamhe

By: Upala KBR, Mid-Day
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Vishesh Films' Woh Lamhe starring Shiney Ahuja and Kangana Ranaut may be releasing next month, but few people are aware that Emraan Hashmi had been originally cast to play the role of Aditya Garewal (the role Shiney is playing today). The film is believed to be based on the life of filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and his tempestuous romance with Parveen Babi.

Brash character

Says Mohit Suri, director of Woh Lamhe, "Aditya Garewal is a young, brash film director looking to make it big in this world. He belongs to the newer lot of directors and is completely selfish. He wants success, fame and money irrespective of whether he gets it through fair means or foul. Aditya doesn't believe in associations like love or anything that hinders his ambitions and how love transforms him."

Date dilemma

So why did Emraan refuse such an interesting role? Says Emraan, "I had to refuse because of date hassles. At that time Mukta Arts' Good Boy Bad Boy was starting, a couple of schedules of Dil Diya Hai had to be completed and some patchwork portions of The Killer were left. The time was limited and I wanted to concentrate on one film at a time."

It was a role where he could have played his uncle. "I know and I felt shitty saying no. I would have loved to play Bhattsaab. I saw Woh Lamhe and I liked it. It's an emotional film, which strikes a chord in you. Mohit has matured as a director and with this film will break the mould set by his earlier films. He will be directing me in Awaraapan again."

Unfair comparisons

Now that he has seen Woh Lamhe does he think he could have performed better than Shiney? "It's unfair to make comparisons and wrong on one actor's part to find fault or judge another actor's performance. It's not about doing it better but doing it in a different way."

Romantic Hashmi

Woh Lamhe is about ambitious director Aditya Garewal who gets transformed while falling in love. Is Emraan also that romantic? "I am not a romantic person but I do love to shower my fiancee Parveen with lots of gifts.

Like when she had visited me in London during the shoot of Dil Diya Hai, I had taken her to a designer store and bought her every dress off the racks in all the colours that were available! But I am not a diamond ring type as I am superstitious. I feel giving diamonds before the nikaah is unlucky."