Lara Dutta reveals rejecting Bipasha Basu’s role in No Entry: ‘I was offered two roles’

Talking about the moment in her career that changed her life, Lara Dutta shared, “That moment came when I did No Entry. It gave me the opportunity to first step into the comic genre and maybe realise that it was something I was really good at. It gave me the chance to consciously break away from a certain image.”

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She added, “I was offered two roles, one that Bipasha ended up doing and one that I did. I picked the suspicious Punjabi wife as it was very different from who I am. That then set me up for quite a few years for what I did and gave me the opportunity to work with some of the best directors in our industry. It cemented my reputation as an actress.”

The former Miss Universe also shared that she opted to do comedy to break the stereotype she was facing. She said, “I didn’t want to be just subjected to playing someone only glamorous. Most of the successful films of my career came from doing comedy and the reason that I chose to do comedy because it gave me a chance to break away from only being slotted as somebody who came from a glamorous point of view and it allowed me to be a little bit of a goofball that I am.”

Lara Dutta also addressed the rumors of her playing Kaikeyi in Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana. Commenting on the reports, she said, “I am hearing it a lot as well. I am leaving the rumors out there. I also like reading and hearing about them so please continue. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of Ramayana? There were so many characters I would have loved to play if it was offered to me – Surpanakha, Mandodari, I am playing them all (laughs).”