Ameesha Patel Says Sanjay Leela Bhansali Asked Her To Retire After 'Gadar' In 2001; Know Why

Soon after 'Gadar', Ameesha received a letter from Sanjay Leela Bhansali praising her work.

Ameesha Patel and Sunny Deol are on cloud nine ever since the release of their film 'Gadar 2' which has raked in some Rs. 400 crores at the box office

New Delhi: Ameesha Patel and Sunny Deol are on cloud nine ever since the release of their film 'Gadar 2' which has raked in some Rs. 400 crores at the box office. In a recent interview, Ameesha recalled rejoicing on the success of 'Gadar' in 2001.'Gadar' marked Ameesha's second film after her debut in 'Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai' with Hrithik Roshan. Soon after 'Gadar', Ameesha received a letter from Sanjay Leela Bhansali praising her work.

The actor made the said revelation in an interview with Bollywood Hungama. "After watching Gadar, Sanjay Leela Bhansali wrote a really beautiful letter, a complimentary letter to me, and when I had a meeting with him, he said ‘Ameesha, you should retire now.’ I was like ‘why?’ I didn’t understand."

Ameesha recalled Sanjay Leela Bhansali telling her at the time, "‘Because you have already achieved in two films which most people don’t achieve in their entire career. Once in a lifetime (films like) Mughal-e-Azam, Mother India, Pakeezah, Sholay get made, you had it in your second film, so what next?'”

Ameesha added that since she was new to the film world, she did not really know what he meant. 

Ameesah then went on to star in successful films like 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa', 'Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd', 'Humraaz', 'Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic'.

In a recent interaction with ETimes, Ameesha shared that she was also offered leading roles in Shah Rukh Khan starrer 'Chalte Chalte', Salman Khan's 'Tere Naam' and Sanjay Dutt's 'Munnabhai MBBS' but she had to turn down these roles due to her preoccupation with other films.

 

"There were lots of films I couldn’t do. I turned them down because of date issues so I couldn’t regret it,” she said.

Ameesha Patel is yet to announce her next film post the success of ‘Gadar 2’. Gadar 2 will probably be continued in another sequel.