The death of a rising star left a film incomplete where she was replaced by the reigning superstar, but strange experiences on set led to charges of the set being cursed or haunted
The 1994 release Laadla is regarded as a landmark film. Not only was it immensely successful at the box office, but it brought back to mainstream the trend of leading actresses doing negative roles. Sridevi’s performance as Sheetal Jaitley was widely applauded. However, there was another reason the film was appreciated, Sridevi was not the original choice for the film. In fact, another actress had almost completely shot the film. But her untimely death meant Sridevi had to come in. But the drama around the shoot was far from over.
How Divya Bharti’s death affected Laadla
Laadla was directed by Raj Kanwar. Initially, Divya Bharti was cast alongside Anil Kapoor and Raveena Tandon. The shoot began in early 1993 and by April, over half of the shoot had been completed. Divya had reportedly completed 70% of her portions. But then on April 5, Divya fell off her balcony and died suddenly at the age of 19. This not only sent shockwaves across Bollywood but also stalled a number of her incomplete films, including Laadla. Eventually, a few weeks later, Sridevi came on board to replace Divya and began reshooting the film from scratch.
The strange incident that led people to say Laadla was cursed
Sridevi was said to be a perfectionist as an actress. Many directors have said that the actress could switch on her on-screen persona as soon as the director said action. She was also one of the few actors who did not need many takes for one scene. So it did come as a surprise to many on set when Sridevi was getting stuck in one scene, unable to say her lines correctly. The scene was with Raveena and Shakti Kapoor, and what shocked them was that a few months earlier, Divya Bharti was getting stuck on the same scene in the same manner. The crew felt uncomfortable and even Sridevi was weirded out when she was told of the coincidence. Many murmured that the set was ‘haunted’ or ‘cursed’. Eventually, a havan was done on the sets and shoot was resumed. Strangely enough, Sridevi coasted through the scene easily after that.
Laadla’s immense success
Laadla eventually released on March 25, 1994, and was a massive success. Having earned Rs 13 crore at the box office, it was one of the highest-grossing Hindi films of the year. Both Sridevi and Raveena earned Filmfare Award nominations for their performances. It is regarded as a cult classic today. Videos of Divya’s performance, which was never included in the film, were eventually released on YouTube 25 years after the film’s release.
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