Some time back, there was a photoshoot of Devdas with Amisha Patel as Paro, Urmila Matondkar as Chandramukhi, and Kunal Kapoor as Devdas.
Bhansali's Devdas is a classic but if we lived in an alternate world with this casting, would people appreciate it? I don't know if either of these two actresses were ever considered by Bhansali but I don't think it's entirely impossible either.
Bhansali had been wanting to work with Amisha Patel after Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai and Gadar for some projects. We don't know what projects those are except that Amisha's manager prevented her from working with Bhansali. She has the delicate looks that Aish has that could make me see Bhansali considering her for Paro. This would have been around the same time she was considered for Chalte Chalte with SRK as well before Amisha's manager rejected the role without telling her.
As for Madhuri, we know Bhansali loved her and had been trying to work with her for a long time. I think Khamoshi was originally meant for her and in all his films, he kept trying to cast her but it wasn't until Devdas that he finally got her. If Madhuri had been unable to do this film as well, I wonder if he would have gone with Urmila next. She has the dance skills and in the early 2000s, when most of Madhuri's 90s contemporaries like Juhi, Kajol, and Karishma were retiring or acting less, that left Urmila as the main 90s heroine whose career was still going strong and steady.
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