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Nandita in, Manisha out!

Lata Khubchandani

After announcing the signing of Manisha Koirala for her last film in the trilogy -- Fire, Earth and Water -- director Deepa Mehta has gone and replaced the Nepali beauty with her seeming favourite, Nandita Das. Both Shabana Azmi and Nandita are slated to go to Benares this week, to shave their heads for Water.

This re-casting came as a big surprise since both Manisha Koirala and Deepa Mehta seemed quite excited at the prospect of working with each other. Which, incidentally, isn't the only bit of musical chairs as far as the NRI director's latest venture is concerned. Manoj Bajpai was her original choice for male lead, but the dates she required from him were already committed elsewhere. So she settled for Akshay Kumar.

rediff.com called Manisha to find out how and why she let go of a role she once seemed to keen on doing. "Deepa wanted us to shave our heads. And since I was working in other films at the same time, I couldn’t do that. So I suggested she hire this make-up artiste from NY, but I think she found him too expensive. I was willing to cut down my fee to accommodate his expenses. But Deepa thought a cleanshaven look would be more effective.

"Also, she had taken dates from me for January and February and I had managed them with great difficulty. Then, last September, she told me that she would have to postpone the film, because she had fallen out with Hari and Jhamu Sugandh. So the film would be done in October.

"Then she returned to Bombay in December and said they would start shooting in February. But I had already given those dates away. In any case, she faxed me all these problems and said that she was going ahead with Nandita Das, so that was that."

About which fact, this is what the Nepali firebrand had to say. "I think it is perfect that Nandita does the film, because she has been in the earlier two films as well. So it will give the trilogy a complete look. Also, she is a very good actress."

But isn't Manisha disappointed at her loss?

"Of course I am. I was looking forward to the role and I admire Deepa’s work. Deepa says she also admires me, so we were both looking forward to working together. Sometimes destiny wills otherwise and, in this case, other obstacles arose. There was no other complication or controversy," said Manisha, ending the conversation on a philosophical note.