Mani Ratnam’s war film Dil Se has acquired a cult status over the years. Featuring Shah Rukh Khan and Manisha Koirala in an ill-fated love story, the tragic ending is something that has stayed with the audience for years. Now, in an interview with ANI, the actress has made some shocking revelations around the film. She opened up about what went on behind the camera, and disclosed that the script was changed last minute. In fact, in the original script, Shah Rukh’s character was not even supposed to die.
In the movie, Shah Rukh plays Amarkanth Varma, an All India Radio journalist who falls in love with Manisha’s Meghna, a terrorist and suicide bomber. He dies along with her when she kills herself by setting the bomb ablaze.
“In the original script that we had agreed on, the cause was larger than love for both the characters. In the original version, he lets her die, and that was agreeable to all of us, but they changed it last minute,” the actress shared.
“In the final version, everybody was trying to achieve that his love was so intense for her, and at the same time he couldn’t allow her to go for it, nor allow to live without her. He stops her but dies in that, they were trying to show it as his big sacrifice, the original script didn’t have that. Back then only I had liked the original because there was no way they would have become one. Sometimes unrequited love is more interesting than a completed loved story,” she further said explaining the reason behind the changes in the final hour.
Manisha Koirala, who has been a part of many superhit films like Khamoshi, Mann, Gupt, Akele Hum Akele Tum, Bombay, 1942: A Love Story, and more, was last seen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s web series Heeramandi.