Salman Khan said Sanjay Leela Bhansali ‘treated Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor as assistants’ on Saawariya: ‘Even though they were Rishi Kapoor, Anil Kapoor’s kids…’

After Ranbir Kapoor relocated to India post his graduation, he visited Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s office and dropped his resume for the position of an AD. “That is the day I told him, ‘But you’re an actor. You should be an actor,'” Bhansali recalled. “So, I said, ‘No, sir. I really want to get a grounding experience in filmmaking from you,” Ranbir recalled responding.

For the role of the leading lady Sakina in Saawariya, Bhansali wanted to cast a classically cut face on the lines of legendary yesteryear actors like Rekha and Madhubala. He thought the last such face was that of Madhuri, till he came across Sonam Kapoor’s. “I was 86 kilos when sir said, ‘Sona bachcha, you’re my heroine,'” recounted Sonam, laughing. “Even if he was as overweight as she was at that time, I’d still cast her as the heroine,” confessed Bhansali.

He recalled after Sonam started working towards losing weight slowly after Bhansali promised to cast her as the heroine in his next film after Black. “After two and a half years, I didn’t even realize she’d lost the weight because I was seeing her every day in front of me,” said Bhansali. The filmmaker felt Black was a rich training ground for both Ranbir and Sonam.

“They got to know me very well. They got to know what I like and don’t like, what makes me happy, what makes me angry. I think they got to understand my mind completely,” said Bhansali, adding, “I knew the moment I saw them that they were stars. They had the possibility of being moulded into great stars. Actors, I wouldn’t say, but stars I would.”

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Before they went on floors, Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor underwent extensive training of acting for two months. “Even though Ranbir is Mr. Rishi Kapoor’s son and Sonam is Anil Kapoor’s daughter, he (Bhansali) treated them like assistants,” revealed Salman Khan, who reunited with Sanjay Leela Bhansali eight years after their 1999 blockbuster romance Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam to play the small role of Imaan in Saawariya.

Similarly, Rani Mukerji, who headlined Bhansali’s Black, reunited with him to play the supporting role of a sex worker, Gulab, in Saawariya. “Ranbir and Sonam aren’t really people whom I’ve just met for the first time. I’ve seen them and known them for years now, especially Sonam. They also assisted in Black, in which we all worked together,” recalled Rani.