Sara Ali Khan celebrates her 28th birthday today. The charming and vivacious actress is on cloud nine right now thanks to the super-success of her latest film, Zara Hatke Zara Bachke. On this special occasion, we bring to you an exclusive rare picture of a six-year-old Sara dressed as Kareena Kapoor Khan from Asoka (2001), which also starred Shah Rukh Khan. This picture was shared with us by the veteran talented actress Navneet Nishan.
Sara Ali Khan, in an interview during Kedarnath’s (2018) release, said “Navneet Nishan is my mother’s friend and I used to go to her house thrice a month just to wear make-up and dance. I was like, this is what I want to do”.
Bollywood Hungama asked Navneet Nishan about it during our recent interaction. The actress laughed and said, “I met Amrita Singh during the shoot of my debut film Waaris (1988) for the first time. We got along as we were the same age. We also had the same last name – Virk. As a child, Sara was quite interested in make-up like any other girl. She had beautiful skin and make-up was not good for her skin. After much persuasion, Amrita allowed Sara to do make-up once or twice a month. She used to call me Daisy maasi. Daisy is my name at home. So she was allowed to go to Daisy maasi’s house, open the make-up box and I’d do her make-up. Then we would do photoshoots. She used to be thrilled.”
Navneet continued, “Sara would open my makeup box and sab cheezein idhar udhar hoti thi! Of course, I loved to indulge her as I was her maasi. And I am so proud of how she’s doing now.”
Speaking about the Asoka photo, Navneet Nishan revealed, “I remember when Asoka (2001) had released, she wanted to be dressed like Kareena Kapoor. I had to make tattoos on her. Then I tied a scarf around her. I remember Saif Ali Khan came to my house. He looked at her with shock, like ‘What are you doing?’! I clicked a picture at that very moment. Even Amrita is there in the picture.”
Waaris was a special film for Navneet Nishan, not just because it was her debut vehicle but also because she met Amrita Singh on the sets. Moreover, she got an opportunity to work with Smita Patil. The acclaimed actress died after working on this film.
Navneet Nishan said, “Even today, I am in awe of Smita ji. Imagine how it must be for me then. Awe is actually too small a word. And the way she used to work was commendable. For example, a scene required her to cross a farm and a man molests her. The actor playing the molester was a local actor. He was hesitant in touching her. She, however, insisted, ‘Pick me up in the air and do this, do that’. I was amazed.”
She continued, “Then, during the shoot of the song 'Aare Munjhe Taare Munjhe', celebrating the pregnancy of Amrita Singh’s character, Smita ji was 8 months pregnant. Yet, she wore the puppet horse and danced. That’s one of the first lessons I learnt about the dedication that good actors have. Any other woman would have groused that she can’t even move. Here was Smita ji dancing away effortlessly. She would get Puran Polis for us. I didn’t even know what Puran Poli was as I was a North Indian. I was so touched by her gesture. Later when she passed away, I cried for 3 days. I just couldn’t believe it.”
Coming back to Sara Ali Khan, Navneet Nishan shared that just like the Atrangi Re (2021) actress, even she wanted to be an actress since she was a child. She excitedly stated, “I used to beg people to come to my house. I used to ask my mother for money, so that I could buy toffees. Bachhe toffee ke laalach se hi aa jaate the. Then I used to design my act, arrange costumes etc. I remember I used to not give my brother a role. His job was to open the curtain and close it. He would complain, ‘Mereko role nahin diya. Main curtain kholunga hi nahin’ (laughs). So there would be times when my audience is sitting and nobody opens the curtain!”
She added, “The signs of me becoming a vamp started when I was 1 ½ years old. My first two years were spent in Srinagar as my father was in the army. One day, my parents and I were in Shalimar Bagh or Nishat Bagh. Suddenly, I started running towards this one man. My mother was terrified as he was a burly man. My father went and picked me up. This is when that man turned around. He turned out to be actor Premnath! I joke that ‘Bachpan se hi I was running after Premnath’!”
Lastly, Navneet Nishan said, “In those days, there used to be cabaret dancers in five-star hotels. At The Oberoi in Srinagar, my parents took me to a party where I couldn’t hold myself. I ran to the stage and started copying the dance of the lady. That lady stepped aside and I was the only one on the stage. My mother was a very shy person. She didn’t know where to look. But I was in a full-on mood to perform!”
BOLLYWOOD NEWS - LIVE UPDATES
Catch us for latest Bollywood News, New Bollywood Movies update, Box office collection, New Movies Release , Bollywood News Hindi, Entertainment News, Bollywood Live News Today & Upcoming Movies 2024 and stay updated with latest hindi movies only on Bollywood Hungama.
