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Sharmila Tagore appeared to reveal that she has been diagnosed with cancer, on the latest episode of Koffee with Karan. While talking about why she couldn’t play a supporting role in Karan Johar’s Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, Sharmila said that she was concerned about her health at the time. Karan said that he regrets not being able to work with her on the film, which went on to become a major critical and commercial success.
The role in question eventually went to Shabana Azmi. In the movie, Shabana plays the grandmother of Alia Bhatt’s character, and has her own parallel romantic track with Dharmendra’s character. “I’d offered Sharmila ji the part played by Shabana ji, she was my very first choice. But because of health reasons at that time, she couldn’t say yes. It is a regret I have,” Karan said.
Sharmila explained, “It was at the height of COVID. They hadn’t really grappled with COVID at that time, we were not vaccinated. After my cancer… They didn’t want me to take that risk.” Karan repeated, “It will be a regret, and it is something I hope that we can make up for and work together.”
Sharmila returned to acting earlier this year, with a supporting role in the Disney+ Hotstar film Gulmohar, also starring Manoj Bajpayee. Inspired by Monsoon Wedding, the drama focused on a wealthy family in New Delhi, and saw Sharmila playing a queer character. She said that she was apprehensive about being ‘accepted’ in the role, especially because it had been so long since her last on-screen appearance. But she was encouraged to see how progressive audiences had become, especially after the streaming age.
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