Smriti Irani thought ‘I don’t even know who you are’ after Ekta Kapoor boasted about her wealth, promised to make her a star

Smriti recalled, “She tore up that contract and presented a new one. I was concerned if I was still getting paid the same amount. That Rs 1800 was important. Ekta said, ‘You know what I am making?’ and I said, ‘I don’t even know who you are’. She said ‘I am Ekta Kapoor’ and I said ‘Achi baat hai’. My sole focus was that Rs 1800 should not change. And I signed it. Ekta said she will make me a ‘star’, and I was thinking ‘pata nahi kaun hai’.”

Years later, Smriti learnt that she landed the role because Ekta Kapoor’s pandit had seen her and was confident that she would make it. “Later, I learned that there was a pandit named Janardhan in Ekta’s office. Apparently, he is a face reader, and he said, whosoever this girl is, stop her. Apparently, I was supposed to make history. Ekta believes a lot in him, so that’s how I got Kyunki,” she recalled.

After getting selected, Smriti gave a screen test which was “horrible.” When the executive told Ekta that hiring Smriti would be a mistake, “Ekta said ‘I don’t care. Janardhan has said she will be a big name’.” Even after they started shooting for the show, the director was not impressed with Smriti’s acting and summoned Ekta to set on the second day of the shoot.

She recalled, “The director called Ekta and said you are making a big mistake, fire her. Ekta drove down, she said ‘what are you doing? I have picked you’. I said this whole thing is fake, if you want this character to resonate, then make her language relatable. I asked ‘can you let me do it my way?’ She said yes.”

Smriti Irani became one of the most popular television actors of her time with Kyunki.