ROCKSTAR: Was Aditi Rao Hydari’s role shortened?

Apparently the director had narrated a longer version of the role to her, but what we see in the film is nothing more than a glorified cameo

Rockstar has opened to a very positive response from the critics and going by the buzz, it just might be a big hit of 2011. The film belongs to Ranbir Kapoor and Nargis Fakhri – but there is one more woman in this film who got a raw deal. We’re talking about Aditi Rao Hydari, who was supposed to play a prominent part in the film, but the screen time given to her was much lesser than what she had signed up for. We heard that Aditi had auditioned for the female lead in Rockstar, but director Imtiaz Ali was keen to cast the ethereal beauty, Nargis Fakhri. Aditi was offered the supporting role, and though it was not top billing, she was quite gung-ho about it. Back then she had said, “It’s something like what Rani Mukerji’s role was in Veer Zaara. She was a lawyer and I play a young journalist. It’s through her eyes that you see this person (Ranbir’s character). My part is not the main love story of the film, but it’s a nicely layered one. It goes through a good growth.” This is exactly why we were surprised because she is hardly there in the film. She does get to kiss Ranbir in a scene but besides, that she doesn’t have much to do. That’s probably why she was also missing from the publicity campaign of the film. This is not the first time this has happened to her. She got a similar treatment in Delhi-6 where she played the coy, unmarried aunt of Sonam Kapoor. And again in Sudhir Mishra’s Yeh Saali Zindagi. Fortunately, her bold scenes and umpteen passion-loaded kisses with co-star Arunoday Singh got her some attention. We just hope that she gets a better deal in her next, London, Paris, New York where she is playing the lead role opposite Ali Zafar because there is no denying that she is a talented actor who is just down on luck.