Trivia: Do you know why was actress Genelia cast in Bommarillu?

The director of the film Bhaskar revealed the reason in a digital show named Tera Venuka Kathalu recently,

All of us are aware of how Genelia's career skyrocketed after her terrific portrayal of Haasini in Bommarillu. The family entertainer, directed by Bhaskar, also starring Jayasudha, Prakash Raj and Siddharth, celebrated 15 years of its release recently. Commemorating the same, the film director reminisced several interesting details about the movie as part of a digital series, Tera Venuka Kathalu, hosted by journalist Rajesh Manne. The episode provided key insights into the film's making, casting and writing process. He had also mentioned why was Genelia brought on board for Bommarillu.

"Right from the day we ideated the characterisation of Haasini, we were quite confident that it'll be a turning point for any heroine who'll get to play the role. When Genelia's name came up in discussions, she was then shooting for Happy, with Allu Arjun. I happened to visit the sets of Happy and requested director Karunakaran to show Genelia's rushes from the film to take a call on finalising her for Bommarillu. In one of the scenes, she delivered dialogues in a 20-minute-long sequence even without prompting. Haasini's role had to come alive through her spontaneity and I was sure that an actress with such commitment to her profession will do well in Bommarillu too," Bhaskar said.

Not all was well between Genelia and the team in the first couple of days of the shoot where the director had asked for more than 30 takes to get a brief dialogue and expression right. Genelia nearly bid goodbye to the project after the bitter experience. Allu Arjun had to intervene and convince her to trust the team and only then, she had effortlessly slipped into the skin of Haasini. The rest, as they say, was history. Genelia eventually went onto reprise the role in the Tamil and Hindi remakes of Bommarillu as well. Meanwhile, Bommarillu Bhaskar is currently working on the post-production of his next, Most Eligible Bachelor, starring Pooja Hegde and Akhil Akkineni.

Also read: 15 years of Bommarillu - A look at how the film gave a new dimension to parenting

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