Anil Sharma, in a new interview, shared that Katrina Kaif had expressed her interest in being a part of Salman Khan’s Veer before Zareen Khan finally bagged the role.
Salman Khan’s 2010 epic action Veer marked the Bollywood debut of Zareen Khan. Back then, the actress became a talking point for her resemblance to Katrina Kaif. Recently in an interview with Sidharth Kannan, the film’s director Anil Sharma was asked about this perception and whether Zareen’s casting in the film was intentional.
In response, the filmmaker clarified that it wasn’t the case. Spilling the beans further on it, he revealed that Katrina Kaif initially wanted to be a part of Veer after their previous collaboration Apne. However, the makers decided that they needed a new face for the film and finalised Zareen Khan to play the female lead.
Anil shared, “Katrina Kaif was in my film Apne. She wanted to do Veer. But somewhere, we were looking for a new face. Salman Khan came across Zareen Khan and sent her to me. She hailed from a humble background. I worked as hard as I could on her.”
Further, he also acknowledged that her appearance resembled to Katrina Kaif.
Despite its interesting cast and ambitious scale, Veer received negative role and tanked at the box office upon its release.
On being asked the reason behind the film’s failure, Sharma explained, “There was no such reason. Somehow, the film was good and it is one of my favourite films. Salman did a wonderful job in it. He has a great personality. Maybe those times were such. If Veer had released today, it would have been a superhit with the same climax. I feel back then, that climax misfired a bit. What’s done is done. Mistakes do happen. I take responsibility for them.”
He continued, “Salman and I had a few issues which we sorted out later. He said something in one of his interviews. That impacted the film. Somewhere, I don’t want to blame anyone and hold myself responsible as a director. I believe if a film works, it’s everyone’s hit and if it doesn’t work then it’s director’s failure because the final decision lies with him.”
Besides Salman Khan and Zareen Khan, Veer also starred Mithun Chakraborty, Jackie Shroff and Sohail Khan. Set against the backdrop of 19th century India, the film follows the story of Veer Pratap Singh (Salman Khan), a brave warrior from the Pindari clan who seeks to avenge the massacre of his people at the hands of the conniving King Gyanendra Singh (Jackie Shroff) of Madhavgarh and his alliance with the British.
