Alia Bhatt's character Safeena from Gully Boy was written for another film: Zoya Akhtar | Sit With Hitlist

During the latest episode of Sit With Hitlist, Zoya Akhtar revealed that the character of Safeena, played by Alia Bhatt in Gully Boy, was initially written as part of another movie by Reema Kagti.

Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar paired up to write many films together, from Zanjeer to Deewar. The blockbuster success of their films led to the pair being hailed as Hindi cinema’s greatest writers. Javed’s daughter Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti are a filmmaking pair in today’s age who have sustained a working partnership through several projects. 

Reema has been an associate with Excel Entertainment since its inception, as she has assisted both Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar in all their films and commercials to date. Together, Reema and Zoya Akhtar helm Tiger Baby Films, a film production company, founded in October 2015.

Salim Khan was the scenarist, the screenplay was his forte, whereas Javed Akhtar is a man of words, writing the dialogues. If Zoya and Reema were to define their partnership, in terms of who has what skill which is better than the other one, what would it be?

“Firstly, this comparison is freaking me out, because they had some 22 blockbusters, we are nowhere there,” said Zoya on the latest episode of Sit With Hitlist.

One of their most successful OTT projects in Made in Heaven, a story of two wedding planners in Delhi. They are extremely close friends as well as share a professional bond through which they run their wedding planning business. Planning and executing a wedding is quite similar to that of producing a movie. Did they model Arjun Mathur and Sobhita Dhulipala’s characters on themselves? 

During the conversation, Zoya also revealed that the beloved character of Safeena, played by Alia Bhatt in Gully Boy, was initially written as part of another movie by Reema Kagti.

While on the topic of Gully Boy, they were also asked if they considered casting Farhan Akhtar in the lead role, played by Ranveer Singh. “No, it didn’t occur to be because it was written… it was another vibe. I think it was just Ranveer,” Zoya insisted. 

Both Reema and Zoya had worked on Farhan’s first film, Dil Chahta Hai. Describing his process as a director, Reema said, “During Dil Chahta Hai, while we are shooting the scene, he used to sit in a corner and make notes about which shot to put. He was that clear."

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