Sonam
Kapoor
and
her
sister
Rhea
Kapoor
who
produces
Aisha
offered
the
male
lead
to
Sonam"s
pal
Imran
Khan.
At
that
time
Imran
and
Sonam
were
already
doing
I
Hate
Luv
Storys
and
had
become
great
buddies.
Naturally
Sonam
presumed
Imran
would
happily
do
her
home
production.
But
the
Kapoor
family
was
in
for
a
shock
when
Imran
declined
the
offer
pleading
there
was
not
much
for
him
to
do.
Anil
admits
Imran
was
indeed
the
first
choice
for
Abhay
Deol"s
role.
Says
the
candid
star-actor,
“Rhea
and
Sonam
did
send
the
script
over
to
Imran.
I
don"t
know
why
he
didn"t
do
it.
Maybe,
he
was
wary
of
a
script
that
was
named
after
the
heroine.
But
Abhay
is
the
perfect
choice".
After
Imran"s
refusal,
Anil
immediately
commanded
the
Aisha
team
to
rechristen
the
film.
“I
told
them
no
hero
would
take
a
film
seriously
if
it
is
named
after
the
heroine.
I
ordered
them
to
call
the
film
'Production
No.
3" not
Aisha.
I
was
different
I
did
so
many
heroine-centric
films
like
Beta
with
Madhuri
Dixit
and
Lamhe
with
Sridevi.
Even
Mr.
India
was
more
Sri"s
picture
although
it
was
our
home
production."
Anil
is
very
proud
of
his
daughters
for
having
managed
Aisha
all
on
their
own.
“I
did
nothing.
I
gave
Sonam
and
Rhea
a
free
hand.
I
was
there
to
help
them
with
inputs.
But
Aisha
is
completely
their
baby.
Now
we"re
planning
2-3
new
productions.
One
of
them
would
definitely
have
Sonam
in
it."