Bhumika Chawla was once a star heroine in Tollywood, acting alongside leading heroes like Pawan Kalyan, Mahesh Babu, Junior NTR, Ravi Teja, and Venkatesh. Her films such as ‘Okkadu‘, ‘Khushi‘, and ‘Simhadri‘ were major hits in the industry. However, she recently shared a grievous insult she faced early in her Hindi film career. She revealed that she was abruptly removed from a project that she had high hopes for. Her comments about this incident have gone viral online. Now, let’s look at the details.
Waited a Year.. Still Replaced!
Bhumika Chawla’s transformation into a film heroine began with the 2000 film ‘Yuvakudu’ starring Sumanth. She then gained recognition in Telugu as a star heroine through films like ‘Khushi’, ‘Vasu’, ‘Okkadu’, ‘Missamma’, and ‘Simhadri’. After ‘Simhadri’, her first Hindi film ‘Tere Naam’ also turned out to be a success, leading to continuous offers in Bollywood, including ‘Munna Bhai MBBS’ and ‘Jab We Met’. Bhumika revealed that she was initially selected as the heroine for ‘Jab We Met’. She waited almost a year for this movie and did not accept other films to avoid date issues. However, she mentioned that initially, Bobby Deol was considered as the hero for ‘Jab We Met’, but later they brought in Shahid Kapoor instead. Subsequently, they also replaced her with Kareena Kapoor as the final choice. This deeply upset her, and she remarked that her career could have been different had she done the film.
Those Movies Gave Me Joy: Bhumika
It appears that Bhumika Chawla also faced injustice with the Hindi film ‘Munna Bhai MBBS’. Initially, she was considered for the heroine role opposite Sanjay Dutt. Due to unavoidable reasons, she was replaced by Vidya Balan. This film became a blockbuster hit in Hindi and was remade in Telugu as ‘Shankar Dada MBBS‘ by Megastar, which was also a grand success. Despite losing these two opportunities, Bhumika recalled the success of her Telugu films ‘Khushi’, ‘Okkadu’, and ‘Simhadri’, which recently re-released and achieved good collections, bringing her joy.
Was She Replaced Just for a Girlfriend?
There are discussions in Bollywood circles suggesting a strong reason behind Bhumika’s removal from ‘Jab We Met’. During the time of this movie, there were widespread reports of Shahid Kapoor being in a relationship with Bollywood beauty Kareena Kapoor. In this context, it is alleged that Shahid Kapoor provided his girlfriend with the opportunity by replacing Bhumika. However, Kareena later separated from Shahid and eventually married Saif Ali Khan. Some people believe that the directors and producers might have thought Kareena would be a better fit alongside Shahid Kapoor, which is why they made the switch at the last moment. Despite acting in several Hindi films thereafter, Bhumika did not achieve significant success.
21 Years Later..
Currently, Bhumika has begun her second innings in Telugu cinema, captivating audiences with key supporting roles in films like ‘MCA (Middle Class Abbayi)’, ‘Savyasachi‘, ‘Ruler‘, ‘Paagal‘, ‘Seetimaarr‘, ‘Sita Ramam‘, and ‘Butterfly‘. She is also playing a pivotal role in the upcoming film ‘Euphoria’, directed by Gunasekhar. Notably, this is the first film she is doing with Gunasekhar after the blockbuster ‘Okkadu’, 21 years ago. She expressed her happiness about working with Gunasekhar again on her Instagram account, writing about the start of a new journey.
