Ali Abbas Zafar on Priyanka’s Exit and Katrina’s Entry in ‘Bharat’

Ali Abbas Zafar talks about his leading lady in ‘Bharat’.

Katrina Kaif stepped into Priyanka Chopra’s shoes after the latter exited Bharat.

(Photo courtesy: Twitter)

Director Ali Abbas Zafar is busy shooting for his upcoming film, Bharat with Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif, a role which was supposed to be played by Priyanka Chopra.

The announcement of Priyanka’s entry into Bharat was made with a lot of noise in April 2018 and it was supposed to be Priyanka’s first big Bollywood project after a 2 year break. But Priyanka was no longer a part of the film because of her wedding to Nick Jonas, which would’ve possibly clashed with the Bharat schedule.

When the director was asked about PeeCee’s sudden exit, in an interview with Filmfare, Zafar said,

“Well, well, well… there were a lot of things that she was busy with. But I’m not gonna say anything more about my ‘nick in time’ comment on Twitter. We all know the reality and the truth of the situation. As I’ve always maintained, we, as team Bharat, are extremely happy for Priyanka and where she’s in life right now.”

Zafar also told Filmfare that there is no bad blood between them, Salman included. “There’s only happiness between us. We’re friends and will always be friends,” he said.

After Priyanka’s exit, the producers cast Katrina Kaif, who was busy with Thugs Of Hindostan, Zero and ABCD 3 at the time.

“Katrina loved the script. She’s busy with three big films, Thugs Of Hindostan, Zero and ABCD3. But she somehow squeezed in our dates. There have been some amendments in her character,” he said.

Zafar also spoke about the maturity Katrina brought to her role, whether it was Tiger Zinda Hai or their upcoming film, Bharat.

“Whatever Katrina went through professionally and personally in the past seven years affected Zoya (Katrina’s character in Tiger Zinda Hai) on camera. I was pleasantly surprised with the kind of maturity she brought to her role.”

Bharat is an official adaptation of a 2014 South Korean film Ode To My Father. It is produced by Atul Agnihotri's Reel Life Production Pvt Ltd and Bhushan Kumar's T-Series.

The film also starsDisha Patani, Tabu and Nora Fatehi, among others. It is slated for an Eid release in 2019.

(Source: Filmfare)