Why did Kareena Kapoor and Katrina Kaif reject Ileana D’Cruz’s Baadshaho role?

There had been several rumours surrounding the casting for the female lead role in Milan Luthria’s Baadshaho last year. There were talks about Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra being approached for the role, which was finally played by Ileana D’Cruz. 

While he did not clarify about approaching Chopra, director Luthria, during a recent media interaction, revealed that the role of the female lead opposite Ajay Devgn was indeed first offered to other actresses — Kapoor and Katrina Kaif.  

He also spoke about the reasons why both the stars could not give their final nod to the meaty role. While Kapoor had to opt out because of her pregnancy, Kaif could not accommodate her dates.

“We had first approached Kareena Kapoor with Baadshaho. Kareena told me to wait a bit. She later said that she will not be able to work in the film because she is planning a family. After Kareena refused, I went to Katrina. I narrated the story. She liked the story, but her dates were not matching with the time of our shooting, and so she couldn’t do it. After Kareena and Katrina, I narrated the story to Ileana and everything fell into place,” says Luthria.

D’Cruz plays the role of Gitanjali, a royal who has studied abroad and has western sensibilities.  

Set during the Emergency of 1975, the film also stars Emraan Hashmi, Vidyut Jamwal and Esha Gupta.