Malaal Actor Meezaan Jaferi Reveals He Was The Stand-In Khilji In Padmaavat

Jaaved Jaffery’s son, Meezaan Jaferi is all set to make his Bollywood debut with his upcoming debut movie Malaal which is bankrolled by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The actor has been paired opposite to SLB’s niece, Sharmin Sehgal who is also making her big screen debut. But you'll be surprised to learn that this is not the first time when Meezaan Jaferi is working with Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The Malaal actor has also worked on the sets of SLB’s Bajirao Mastani which featured Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra in key roles.

It was during the shoot of Bajirao when Sanjay Leela Bhansali saw an actor in Meezan. Guess what? This wasn’t the end. Meezan continued his collaboration with the filmmaker and assisted him on his film Padmaavat starring Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, and Shahid Kapoor.

In a recent interaction with Zoom TV, Meezaan shared an interesting experience from the sets of Padmaavat and revealed how he was a stand-in Khilji for two scenes in the film. The actor stated "I was assisting Sanjay sir on Padmaavat. One day, they were discussing how difficult it would be to shoot certain scenes as Ranveer was unavailable. To my surprise, Sanjay sir said that I should do it. The next day, I was asked to memorize all of Ranveer’s gestures and lines." 

During the trailer launch of Malaal, when Sanjay Leela Bhansali was asked as to why he chose to cast Sharmin and Meezaan, the filmmaker responded, "Sharmin Segal was assisting me on Bajirao Mastani. I wanted someone for trying out the costumes. She called Meezaan, they were studying together. As soon as he entered I knew he was a star." Adding to this, Meezaan revealed, "It is a proud moment for me. The moment where Sanjay Leela Bhansali sir called me and told me he wants to launch me, that moment I can never forget."

Sanjay Leela Bhansali personally guided both the aspiring actors to help them to get into their characters. Malaal is a remake of a Tamil film named 7G Rainbow Colony. It is a love story between Astha and Shiva- who are from different backgrounds and live in a Mumbai chawl.  The film is Jointly produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, and Mahaveer Jain, Malaal is set to release on 5 July.