Not Jaya Bachchan, This Actress Was First Cast As Lead In Gulzar’s 1972 Film Koshish

Songwriter Gulzar was once known for being one of the most fearless and outspoken directors in Bollywood. He never shied away from making films on challenging or controversial subjects. One of his superhit films that won two National Film Awards was released in 1972. The movie is none other than the romantic drama Koshish, which featured Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bachchan in the lead roles. The film is still remembered by many. Koshish focuses on a poor couple, named Haricharan and Aarti, who are deaf and mute. Do you know who was the first choice for the female lead? This actress was even onboard for the film, but was later removed.

As per reports, the character Aarti made Jaya Bachchan famous in Bollywood. Actually, she was not the first choice for this film. It is said that the role of Aarti was first offered to actress Moushumi Chatterjee, who was one of the highest-paid actresses in Hindi films during the 1970s. But due to her unreasonable demands, she was removed from the project.

According to the report, Moushumi Chatterjee was signed for the film Koshish. She has already started shooting for the movie, but after a few days, she started demanding expensive and different sarees from the makers. So, the filmmaking team started getting very worried and opted her out of this film.

Apart from this, there are reports that Gulzar wanted to make this film low-budget. That’s why he was trying to finish the film quickly. For which he asked Moushumi to shoot late at night so that the project could finish earlier. But Moushumi Chatterjee was not ready to work until late at night. She said that she is married and cannot shoot till late at night. She asked Gulzar to replace her and take another actress.

The next day, Gulzar’s assistant reached Moushumi’s house and started asking for the shooting sarees back. Hearing this, the actress was shocked and could not understand that her joke turned out to be serious. Then Jaya Bachchan was cast in her place in this film. She was in the limelight after the movie turned out to be a success.

Koshish was inspired by the 1961 Japanese film Happiness of Us Alone. Later, it was also remade in Tamil in 1977 as Uyarndhavargal, starring Kamal Haasan and Sujatha as the main leads.