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Sanjay Suri’s story in Onir’s I Am was originally planned with Karisma Kapoor as her comeback vehicle

My Brother Nikhil director Onir currently is busy with the promotions of his film I Am – an amalgamation of four sensitive stories. Actor Sanjay Suri’s story where he plays a victim of child abuse was originally written as a comeback vehicle for Karisma Kapoor. Onir confirmed to a tabloid, “Karisma liked the script and decided to make a comeback with it.” However the actress had second thoughts about her return to the big screen, thus the project got shelved. Methinks that the once-upon-a-time favourite actor of popcorn cinema got scared. Playing coy, flirty, glamorous or even being a drama queen is not as difficult as portraying a character that lives in the shadows of child abuse. It takes guts to play such roles. Long back, the queen of her times Sridevi had turned down the role of a prostitute in Yugpurush. She revealed the reason in an interview to a monthly glossy, “It was a very good character. There was only one thorn in the flesh, I was supposed to be playing a prostitute. Somewhere I think I have developed a mental block against playing one. I get uncomfortable and so I guess I won’t be able to do full justice to the character.” Hats off to Sridevi for being honest, a quality very few people in the industry possess. And I would know! Maybe Karisma too had similar thoughts. All’s well that ends well, ‘cos with or without her Onir has made his film. But this brings us to the eternal debate, are our Bollywood actors courageous enough to take on serious subjects?