By: Entertainment DeskMumbai | November 9, 2025 10:28 AM IST 3 min readIt’s been 18 years since Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor made their acting debut with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 2007 romantic drama Saawariya. Prior to that, Ranbir and Sonam had worked as Assistant Directors on Bhansali’s previous directorial, Black (2005). While Bhansali thought both of them were stars when he first met them, they insisted on working with them as ADs first.“I was studying at a school of visual arts abroad when I first saw Devdas (2002), and I became a big fan of Mr. Bhansali,” recalled Ranbir in the video detailing the making of Saawariya. Bhansali’s Devdas, an adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s 1917 cult romance novel, starred Shah Rukh Khan in the titular role, alongside Aishwarya Rai as Paro and Madhuri Dixit as Chandramukhi.After Ranbir Kapoor relocated to India post his graduation, he visited Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s office and dropped his resume for the position of an AD. “That is the day I told him, ‘But you’re an actor. You should be an actor,'” Bhansali recalled. “So, I said, ‘No, sir. I really want to get a grounding experience in filmmaking from you,” Ranbir recalled responding.For the role of the leading lady Sakina in Saawariya, Bhansali wanted to cast a classically cut face on the lines of legendary yesteryear actors like Rekha and Madhubala. He thought the last such face was that of Madhuri, till he came across Sonam Kapoor’s. “I was 86 kilos when sir said, ‘Sona bachcha, you’re my heroine,'” recounted Sonam, laughing. “Even if he was as overweight as she was at that time, I’d still cast her as the heroine,” confessed Bhansali.He recalled after Sonam started working towards losing weight slowly after Bhansali promised to cast her as the heroine in his next film after Black. “After two and a half years, I didn’t even realize she’d lost the weight because I was seeing her every day in front of me,” said Bhansali. The filmmaker felt Black was a rich training ground for both Ranbir and Sonam.“They got to know me very well. They got to know what I like and don’t like, what makes me happy, what makes me angry. I think they got to understand my mind completely,” said Bhansali, adding, “I knew the moment I saw them that they were stars. They had the possibility of being moulded into great stars. Actors, I wouldn’t say, but stars I would.”Also Read: Prateik Babbar was in drug rehab, so he missed Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s call to cast him in SaawariyaStory continues below this adBefore they went on floors, Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor underwent extensive training of acting for two months. “Even though Ranbir is Mr. Rishi Kapoor’s son and Sonam is Anil Kapoor’s daughter, he (Bhansali) treated them like assistants,” revealed Salman Khan, who reunited with Sanjay Leela Bhansali eight years after their 1999 blockbuster romance Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam to play the small role of Imaan in Saawariya.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