Actress Sahher Bambba is on cloud nine after the success of The Ba***ds of Bollywood. The show that marked Aryan Khan’s debut, also put the spotlight on a lot of actors, including Saheer, Anya Singh, Rajat Bedi, Lakshya and Raghav Juyal. During an exclusive conversation with Filmfare, the actress opened up about how she landed the lead role in Aryan’s show and also spoke about some of the most talked about cameos of Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Emraan Hashmi.
She revealed that she had to do three rounds of auditioning, and the final round, taken by Aryan, was the most gruelling one. She said, “I came to Mumbai in 2017. I was studying at Jai Hind College. I was very new. I didn’t know anybody in Mumbai, let alone in the industry. I wanted to audition but had no idea how to do it or where the audition places were. It took a lot of time to find that out. After that, I won a beauty pageant and then auditioned for a couple of things. Some materialised, but nothing really came my way which gave me any sort of recognition. Then The Ba***ds of Bollywood happened.”
She continued, “I tested for it in 2022. I doubted if I would ever get selected because it was a big show and a far-fetched dream that was too good to be true. But I tested for it. After the second round of auditions, they told me that I was shortlisted. But Aryan took the final round of the audition as he wanted to see the person and how well they were performing without any cameras. He just asked me to perform, and that was the longest audition ever. It was also the most gruelling session of the audition because there were a lot of big scenes, and I had to perform them in different ways. Aryan was also tweaking things in between to see how receptive I was.”
The actress then shared that she got the final call from Aryan in March 2023 when he congratulated her and told her she had been selected for the role of the lead character, Karishma Talvar.
Talking about the show, Sahher revealed that Salman Khan’s much-talked-about cameo in the film was unplanned and happened on the spot. There was also a dashing cameo by Aryan’s superstar father, SRK. Recalling those moments, Sahher continued, “I didn’t get to share screen space with Shah Rukh sir, but of course, I was there on the day when he was in that FilmFirst award scene. That was surreal because I’m the biggest SRK fan. Every year, when the awards would happen and he would host, it was a ritual for my family and me to watch it. And with Salman sir, it was very impromptu. His scene was never there on paper. We were shooting for that scene, and he just walked in and said his dialogue. In fact, during the shoot, everyone started running around and gathered towards the gate. I didn’t know who was coming in, but then I saw Salman sir. He was so sweet and warm. That scene was written on the spot, and that’s how his cameo happened.”
Sahher also clarified that SRK wasn’t on the sets otherwise during the shoot, and Aryan executed the entire thing. Asked whether the superstar was present on the sets while Aryan was directing, she immediately clarified, “No, it was through and through shot by and directed by Aryan. We, of course, met Shah Rukh sir off the set when we would have workshops or at parties.”
She also revealed that the energy on set was very light and fun. She recalled that all of them were cracking up when Raghav Juyal had his now-famous scene with Emraan Hashmi, where the former sang for the latter. Sahher further said that none of the cast members had any idea about the plot twist at the end. Aryan told them about it right before they were about to shoot.
Sahher continued, “There was a table read at Red Chillies Entertainment’s office where we started reading from episode one. But we didn’t know the climax. It was revealed to us on the day when we had to shoot it. I kept asking Aryan about what happens to my character. (For the uninitiated, her character turns out to be the sister of her lover, Aasmaan.) He kept telling me to wait, and by the end of the show, my curiosity had peaked. So finally, when Aryan told us the climax, I couldn’t believe my ears!”
Asked whether there will be a season 2, she teased, “I’m also expecting, as much as you’re expecting. Shout out to Netflix and Aryan – we should definitely do a season 2.” The Ba***ds of Bollywood has been written and directed by Aryan Khan, with Bilal Siddiqui and Manav Chauhan serving as the co-writers. It is currently streaming on Netflix.
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