Shruti wasn't the first choice for 'Ramaiya Vastavaiya'

Promos of 'Ramaiya Vastavaiya' are on and it can be comfortably stated that the film would pretty much mark a re-launch of Shruti Hassan in the world of Hindi films. For an actress who had relatively shorter parts to play in ensemble affairs like 'Luck' and 'Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji', the Prabhudheva directed affair is a solid platform indeed where she is the sole leading lady in the film and that too in a romantic tale.

However the story goes that it wasn't a straight forward walk in the park for her to step into the film. Apparently, quite a few star daughters were in consideration for the role before director Prabhudheva and producer Kumar Taurani zeroed her in for the part.

"Honestly, we were on a hunt to get a star-daughter opposite Girish Kumar for the film," confesses Kumar Taurani who is launching his son with 'Ramaiya Vastavaiya', "We did contact a few actors as well, both from North as well as South whose daughters were looking at getting into the world of films."

There were three girls pencilled in as well but then Taurani as well as Prabhudheva felt that they were way too young before they could be roped in as a leading lady.


"Yes, they were still at least two years away from being a heroine. I told Prabhu that since it would take time for that, let's explore options amongst other girls down South. Now since these A-listers too were doing three to four films each, we started hunting for new girls and began afresh," he reveals.

Fortunately or unfortunately for them, this didn't lend desired results as well and the hunt just continued to prolong.

"We must have seen thousands of girls and reached out to multiple agencies. However kuch baat nahi ban rahi thi. Ultimately we did shortlist two girls and even did a photo session with them. Now it was Prabhudheva who was not 100% happy with the results," Taurani continues.

With time running out, the final name that came to the producer's mind was Shruti Hassan.

"I strongly felt that we were getting the best of both worlds," he smiles, "We now had a star-daughter who looked good and could also act. Her many films down South have been a testimony to that. Prabhudheva too felt that we could think of her for the film. I spoke to her, brought her on board, did a look test and there was she in the film shooting for us in quick time."

Now here is hoping that all the effort, time and energy that went into bringing a heroine for Girish in 'Ramaiya Vastavaiya' indeed turns out to be worth it.