Kunal Kohli had given up on casting Kajol in his 2006 romantic thriller Fanaa because she’d just become a mother to Nysa Devgan. But when he narrated the script to her, she surprised him by saying yes. The only minor hiccup came during the filming of “Dekho Na”, the sensuous rain song with Aamir Khan. In this edition of SCREEN Spotlight, ahead of the film’s 20th anniversary, the filmmaker recalled how he challenged the conventions of depicting a blind girl on screen, and the ensemble cast he rounded up for Fanaa — Tabu, Satish Shah, and that one-scene cameo by Lara Dutta.Since Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s critically acclaimed film Black released just a year prior, and starred Kajol’s cousin Rani Mukerji as a blind girl, what was your brief to her so that her visually challenged character comes out differently?We never gave her dark sunglasses. Because I wanted to play with her eyes. I wanted the hero and the audience to look into her eyes. I didn’t want to block her. And then we had a sensuous rain song with a blind girl, which hadn’t happened before. On the first day of shoot, Kajol told me, “See, I have to watch this song with my in-laws. So, do your sensuousness, but just keep that in mind.” I didn’t want to hold back in any way. What if she’s a blind girl? Anyone with a handicap falls in love as much as anyone who doesn’t have one. So, I didn’t want to restrict that. I didn’t want to make it sad and depressing.How did you cast Tabu in that small role of an intelligence officer?I wanted that character to be female because I wanted the two women to bring Aamir’s character down. Sharat Saxena’s character was also there, but I wanted a woman from his love life and a woman from the Indian forces to bring down this terrorist who nobody has even seen. And the conversation Kajol had with Tabu right before the climax, it couldn’t have been done with a man. It was very nice of Tabu to see the potential in the role. She took it to another level. Sometimes roles are made by actors. The pauses she took, the looks she gave, and the calmness that she had, it said so much.They say there are no small parts. That holds true for late Satish Shah as well, who played a colonel in Fanaa. How did that happen?Satish and I did Philips Top 10 together on Zee TV, and became very good friends. So, I could pull a favour for him. In fact, I could just call him and say, “Sats! You’re going to do this for me.” He’d say, “Okay, Kunnu baba! If you say, I’d do it.” So, that was our relationship. But even in that, he left a mark. You really feel sad when he gets killed. Arey yaar, isko kyu maara!Story continues below this adAlso Read — Dhurandhar 2 Movie Review LIVE Updates: Ranveer Singh-starrer’s non-Hindi preview shows cancelled amid dubbing issues, refunds initiatedHow did Lara Dutta make it to that one scene in Fanaa?She had just started out. As she’s today, she was super sexy. So, I just said let me ask her if she’d do a walk-in part. And she very sweetly said, “Ya, sure.” Neither I nor anyone in Yash Raj Films knew her. I just picked up the phone and she said yes. It was that simple. And then of course, we’ve done a series after that, Hiccups & Hookups (2021, on Lionsgate Play). I have a great connect with her now. She’s a lovely, lovely person. We have a fabulous working relationship now. At that time, it was just a one-day shoot. I remember I asked on set which AD (Assistant Director) can pick her up from the airport. And all the four-five guys said, “I’ll go! I’ll go!” (laughs).Click here to follow Screen Digital on YouTube and stay updated with the latest from the world of cinema.© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd