Somen Mishra recently addressed the controversy surrounding Alia Bhatt’s casting in Vasan Bala’s upcoming film Jigra, an emotional thriller co-produced by Karan Johar. The film revolves around a courageous young woman, played by Bhatt, who fights to save her brother, portrayed by newcomer Vedang Raina. A promotional interview clip had triggered online debate, with some alleging that Vasan Bala was “unhappy” when Karan Johar shared an early draft of the script with Bhatt.
In a conversation with Tried & Refused Productions, Bala clarified what had happened. He shared that he had sent a rough draft of the script—essentially a “stream of consciousness” version—to Karan. “Just six or seven hours later, Karan called me and said, ‘I’ve already sent it to Alia.’ I wasn’t thrilled because I hadn’t even done a spellcheck or polished it up,” Bala explained. “I asked Karan why he did that, and he said, ‘No, no, this is how we do it.'”
This incident led to speculation that Bhatt was never Bala’s first choice for the role, rumors that Somen Mishra was quick to shut down. Taking to social media, Mishra explained, “It’s normal for early drafts or pitches to be sent to actors. If they like the concept, then you move forward with the final script. Sometimes the script clicks, and sometimes it doesn’t. But only on social media do people blow things out of proportion.”
Mishra went on to praise Bhatt, saying, “When you see the film, you’ll understand why we were so eager to have her. She is pure magic on screen. If she had turned us down, I can’t imagine anyone else playing Satya. The rest of the chatter is irrelevant.”
As for the viral clip suggesting Bala didn’t want Bhatt in the film, Mishra laughed off the rumors. “When Vasan, Karan, and I first discussed the project, we were desperate to get Alia on board. Any filmmaker would be. We were lucky she agreed,” he said, noting that the “rough draft” comments were only about the state of the pitch at the time.
Mishra added that Bala himself was unaware of the controversy, being too immersed in completing the film, and that they all found the online speculation amusing.
