Katrina Kaif no longer Leading Lady in Bharat?

Katrina Kaif has replaced Priyanka Chopra in the 2019 release, Bharat.

The Salman Khan film, directed by Ali Abbas Zafar initially saw Priyanka play an outspoken, quick-talking north Indian in the film.

The dialect of her character was described to be of “Sholay Speed.”

However, since Katrina has joined the film, the role she is set to play has reportedly gone back to the drawing board.

This is because when the Bharat team signed the ‘Kala Chasma’ star, they thought it was unfair to pass the exact same role onto Katrina.

Interestingly, Katrina Kaif was apparently the producers first choice for the role, before it was given to Priyanka.

The Quantico star later bagged the role because it was very well suited for her.

Priyanka was considered as a good fit because the role requires an authentic and typically Indian girl’s dialect, mannerisms and accent which Kaif may have struggled with, having been brought up in London, England. 

This does mean the ‘Sheila Ki Jawani’ star has big shoes to fill, as she steps into this Desi girl’s role.

Despite this, reports claim Kaif shares a very warm relationship with the producers of the film. And she didn’t actually hesitate or even read the script before she said yes for the film. 

However, the producers and Salman Khan are actually trying to change and adapt the original script in order to fit Katrina Kaif’s niche.

While Priyanka Chopra was originally set to play the strong female lead, now that the role has been given to Katrina, this is no longer the case.

Reports are claiming that the dancing sensation will only be featured in the film during Salman Khan’s childhood and her character plays a key part Khan’s younger days in Bharat.

This means Kaif will allegedly no longer play the leading lady in the film.

She is also set to share the silver screen with the Bhaghi franchise beauty, Disha Patani.

The decision to change the role for Katrina is thought to have been made by the Bharat team because the Dhoom 3 sensation often plays non-residential Indians or British/American Indians in a lot of her films. 

Over the past years, she has excelled at playing this niche and has even given Bollywood hit films like Namaste London and Jab Tak Hai Jaan.

The versatile talent has experimented with other characters, however. During the course of her career, the popular actress has done some very challenging roles in films like Rajneeti (2010) and Sarkar (2005). 

Over the years, her hard work and determination have made her one of the highest paid actresses in India.

Katrina Kaif has also worked with Salman Khan on multiple films.

The sizzling Jodi works so well on-screen they have also been rumoured to be dating in real life.

Their most recent film was Tiger Zinda Hai, which made Rs 339 Crore at the box office.

In Salman Khan’s upcoming 2019 release, the storyline of Bharat is based on 1947 India to the early 2000s.

It will be interesting to see how Katrina’s role evolves for the historical piece. At any rate, fans are eager to see her share the big screen again with Salman. And we are sure this sizzling Jodi will impress.