Humsafar’s leading lady Mahira Khan is slated to make her debut in Bollywood starring opposite Shah Rukh Khan in the much talked about Raees, according to the Times of India.
Mahira came to limelight with her performance in Bol in 2011. The actor visited Mumbai last month after her television serial Humsafar gained popularity in India. Mega producers Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar were the quickest to move in, finalising the female lead for Raees which is being directed by Rahul Dholakia, who won a national award for his film Parzania. Sidhwani took to social networking site Twitter to share the news and wrote: “Our leading lady in #Raees @themahirakhan.”
The film has Shahrukh Khan playing a Gujarati don and is likely to have Nawazuddin Siddiqui playing a cop. A source said that SRK had dropped in at the audition to meet Mahira, according to the ToI.
The makers of the film have finalised Mahira as her looks and personality perfectly matched the character that was penned by the director. Further, a source close to the development told Mirror that the makers were looking for an “international” face instead of a familiar Bollywood name, which explains how Mahira bagged the coveted role.
“She plays SRK’s wife in the film. He’s a gangster based in Gujarat while Nawazuddin Siddiqui is the cop who traps him in Mumbai. It’s a complex role and both the film’s director Rahul Dholakia and producers, Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar, believe she is perfect for the part.”
The casting of the leading lady of this film has been a mystery for a while with earlier reports suggested that Sonam Kapoor and very recently Kirti Sanon had bagged the big role in a Shahrukh Khan starrer film.
Meera took on the role of Divya in the film Nazar, starring alongside Ashmit Patel in 2005.
Mikaal Zulfiqar played in the film Shoot on Sight, starring alongside Naseeruddin Shah in 2007.
Ali Zafar took on the role of Ali Hassan in the film Tere Bin Ladin, starring alongside Sugandha Garg in 2010.
Humaima Malick took the role of Ziya in the film Raja Natwarlal, starring alongside Emraan Hashmi in 2014.
Imran Abbas played Kunal in the film Creature 3D, starring alongside Bipasha Basu in 2014.
Fawad Khan took on the role of Vikram in the film Khoobsurat, starring alongside Sonam Kapoor in 2014.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 17th, 2014.
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