For four years Shekhar Kapoor, prepped for Paani. He then aborted the project, thereby depriving Sushant of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Ram Leela and effectually killing Ayesha Kapoor’s career as a leading lady.
Shekhar Kapoor, who returned to feature-film direction with the much-anticipated Paani, finally found his female lead after auditioning dozens of girls. To be honest, Ayesha was not as much his choice as that of producer Aditya Chopra’s. The girl got the prized role in Shekhar’s futuristic love story on Adi’s say-so.
Remember the bundle of talent who, at the age of 11, gripped the screen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Black? Playing the deaf-mute and rebellious Michelle McNally in Black, Ayesha had shown no nervousness while facing the camera with the mighty Amitabh Bachchan who played her teacher.
Nine years later she was back as the new Yash Raj heroine and Aditya’s favourite girl, with a three-film deal tucked under her belt.
While the Paani team was sworn into silence by the film’s producer, a source close to the project told me, “Shekhar’s film is a futuristic Romeo and Juliet set in the Mumbai when water is the greatest wealth. Sushant plays a boy from the lower city who steals into the higher city where he meets Ayesha.”
Apparently, Shekhar wanted a British actress to play the lead in Paani. He had approached the Twilight actress Kristen Stewart and the Harry Potter actress Emma Watson, but that didn’t work out.
In Black, Ayesha was phenomenal.
Says Sanjay Bhansali, “She had to play a deaf-blind rebellious 11-year-old. She would show me 6-7 ways of doing every scene. She was not the least intimidated by Amitji. Ayesha insisted on calling him ‘Amitabh’ and would rehearse her scenes with him until he was exhausted. But she was tireless. I saw a very bright future for her.”
Ayesha was destined to join the ranks of other phenomenally talented child actresses like Sridevi and Urmila Matondkar, who grew up to be stars in their own right. But God and Shekhar Kapoor had other plans.
