In a recent interview, Sushmita Sen spoke about being crowned Miss Universe 1994 and her journey as an actress. She told Humans of Bomb how her character Chandni Chopra in the Shah Rukh Khan starrer Main Hoon Na (2004) was ‘small but strong’. He also recalled filmmaker Yash Chopra’s reaction to Chandni’s character. Also told how all the posters of ‘Main Hoon Na’ across Mumbai were removed a day after its release and Sushmita was replaced with Shah Rukh Khan.
Why did Farah apologize to Sushmita?
Farah saw the final edit of the film and called me. He said, Sush I have seen the final edit and I want to apologize to you. Shah Rukh was the lead, Zayed and Amrita also had roles but you barely make an appearance. So I said never mind. We had a deal. You kept your promise and I kept mine. Don’t worry it’s done now. But inside I felt that oh no I am hardly seen in the film. There was a screening at Film City and my phone started ringing. I didn’t know why Yash ji was calling me. Everyone was calling me… I was picking up the phone scared.
You did a great job, I can’t take my eyes off you’ and ‘hope you’ll be in the second part and in every frame,’ recalls Sushmita. Sushmita said she didn’t go to the screening because she thought she would ‘feel bad watching the film’ as Farah told her she was ‘just looking’.
He said, “From the reaction, I knew something had changed. The role didn’t change but the impact did. The role was still small but it was very strong. People’s reaction was so fast that after the release. Every poster of the film but it was Shah Rukh and me. It was the power of the people and the audience and I have a lot of respect for that. While earlier Me Hoon posters in all of Bombay had Zayed Khan, Amrita Rao and Shah. Rukh and Shah Rukh alone.