25 Years of Mela EXCLUSIVE: “Many ladies have told me, ‘Kya sir; aapne Aishwarya Rai Bachchan ko cameo diya aur Twinkle Khanna ko itna bada role de diya’” – Dharmesh Darshan

Mela (2000) completed 25 years on January 7. Starring Aamir Khan, Twinkle Khanna and Faisal Khan, the film tells the tale of a village belle whose brother is killed by a dreaded dacoit. The girl runs away and meets two kind-hearted truck drivers. She falls in love with one of them. The other becomes her munh-bola bhai. In the end, he too bumps into a runaway girl, played by none other than Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in a surprise cameo.

Bollywood Hungama spoke exclusively with Mela’s director Dharmesh Darshan on the film’s 25th anniversary. When asked whether Aishwarya was the original choice, he stated, “She was. She was also my first choice for the role of Memsaab in Raja Hindustani (1996). My heart was on her. But she urgently had to go for Miss World. I didn’t want to take any chances as I wanted an actress who could devote her full time to the film and Bollywood. It was her sheer grace that she didn’t hold it in her heart.”

He continued, “That is the reason that she agreed to do the cameo in Mela for me, even though she is paired opposite Faisal Khan and not Aamir. A heroine of her level had worked with Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan; you name it. Yet, she agreed and drove a couple of hours to shoot that scene.”

Many admirers of Mela have often mentioned on the internet that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan should have had more screen time. Dharmesh Darshan smiled when talked about it and he revealed, “I’ve met ladies who have told me, ‘Kya sir; aapne Aishwarya ko cameo diya aur Twinkle Khanna ko itna bada role de diya’!”

When Mela’s song reached Hollywood shores

The song played during Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s scene is ‘Chori Chori Hum Gori Se’. On this, Dharmesh Darshan stated, “This track was purchased by Hollywood for The Guru (2002). In fact, I am the only Bollywood director whose 3 songs were purchased by Hollywood makers and shot by them. ‘Pardesi Pardesi’ and ‘Pucho Zara Pucho’ from Raja Hindustani were a part of the soundtrack of V For Vendetta (2005) and played in the background in Kate Winslet-starrer Holy Smoke (1999) respectively.”

Also Read: 25 Years of Mela EXCLUSIVE: Dharmesh Darshan hits back at those who call the film a flop: “It was made in Rs. 3-5 cr; to collect Rs. 15 cr back in the year 2000 was not a JOKE”

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