Director Imtiaz Ali recently made a shocking revelation. The filmmaker revealed that Bollywood star Alia Bhatt was not his first choice to play Veera in ‘Highway’. But he never approached anyone.

Ali said he wanted to cast someone who was slightly older and named Aishwarya Rai as one of the possible candidates. “Aishwarya Rai without makeup would be a great choice, but I haven’t approached anyone,” the director said in a recent interview to Mid-Day.

Ali said he wanted someone in his 30s to play Veera. Ali wanted someone with some life experience, but after meeting Alia he realised he was not looking for age but emotional depth and maturity, which Alia has in abundance.

Imtiaz Ali also revealed that many in his team were against the idea of ​​casting Alia as Veera in Highway. However, after hearing Alia’s narration of the film, they changed their minds, “Those who were against her casting as Veera were all in favour of casting her as the lead female role after 25 minutes of narration of the film. It’s a very powerful thing when an actor can tell a story, you just keep watching it.”

Talking about work, Imtiaz Ali last directed the Netflix hit Amar Singh Chamkila.