Bharat: Not Katrina Kaif, This Actress Was The First Choice to Replace Priyanka Chopra in Salman Khan's Film - Read EXCLUSIVE Story

Priyanka Chopra walking out of Bharat was the biggest news of last week. People are still speculating whether it was for her upcoming marriage with Nick Jonas or doing a Hollywood movie with Chris Pratt or altogether something else for walking out of the project. After all, Bharat was considered as her big comeback. It starred Salman Khan in the lead and was directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, who has delivered two blockbusters in Sultan and Tiger Zinda Hai back-to-back and has never given a flop. What's strange is Priyanka's exit came mere days before her shoot. There is also the fact she is currently shooting for another Bollywood film, The Sky is Pink.

Anyway, Salman Khan and Ali Abbas Zafar have now replaced her with Katrina Kaif as the female lead. But now we hear this very interesting news. Apparently, despite Katrina being an obvious choice for the replacement, Tiger Zinda Hai and all, she wasn't the first name in the list. As per an inside source, Shruti Haasan was considered for the role. The source revealed, "After Priyanka walked out, the producers were in a fix. They needed an urgent replacement as the shooting schedule was just days away. Katrina was already busy with her work in Thugs of Hindostan and Zero, so they toyed with the idea of approaching Shruti Haasan for the role. She has never worked with Salman before, so the pairing would look fresh on screen."

So what happened then? The source continued, "Salman put his foot down on the idea. He always wanted Katrina in the film, even though Zafar pushed for Priyanka. That's why he insisted on Katrina doing a special dance number in Bharat. Now that Priyanka was out, he wanted things done in his way. Fortunately, Katrina could adjust this short notice well into her busy schedule."

So it looks like it is a win-win situation for both Katrina and Priyanka. The former bagged one of the biggest Bollywood films of 2019, while the latter got a huge Hollywood film. Looks like poor Shruti Haasan ended up being the loser here, that is, if she was aware of it!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 01, 2018 06:53 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).