Sonali Kulkarni has had a rich and diverse filmography across multiple languages. Across her over three decade-long career, she’s been a part of indie films with a heart as well as landmark mainstream films. One of those is Ali Abbas Zafar’s 2019 coming-of-age period drama Bharat, in which she essayed Janki Devi, the mother of the titular protagonist, played by Salman Khan.

Why Sonali Kulkarni played Salman Khan’s mom

Interestingly, Sonali, now 51, is nine years younger than Salman, now 60, who played her son in Bharat. Sonali defends her decision of taking up that role despite the age difference between her and her onscreen son. “During casting, I said, ‘I can’t be playing this role,'” Sonali reveals on SCREEN Spotlight.

But she recalls both Ali Abbas Zafar and casting director Mukesh Chhabra being “very sure” about her casting because of the emphasis they placed on the flashback sequences. “The flashback meant everything to that film. That’s how Bharat gets his name and reacts to situations,” says Sonali, adding, “No director or casting director would like to fit in a wrong person somewhere. That would be a failure on their part also. So, I tried to understand that. So, I took it up as a challenge.”

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Sonali Kulkarni on working with Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif

Sonali Kulkarni admits it did take “a lot of convincing” from the director and the casting director to cast her. But what also helped was her own “temptation” to meet Salman Khan, whom she had heard a lot about. “We bonded very well on the sets of Bharat. One can learn from him to treat people well. He was ever gracious. And he scored a point when he gave me his cycle to ride,” said Sonali, laughing.

Adding that the project, backed by Salman Khan Films, paid her “really well”, Sonali also pointed out that she had “maximum scenes with the child artiste” who played the young Bharat, and “very few with the elder Bharat”, essayed by Salman. But she doesn’t have any regrets of tracing that arc either as she got to see Katrina Kaif dance live.

“Oh god, she’s such a graceful dancer, and she’s beautiful. We had a gala time on set! So, no complaints from my end,” says Sonali. Katrina, who played Bharat’s longtime love interest Kumud Raina in Bharat, shook a leg with Salman on the popular song “Aithey Aa.”

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Also starring Disha Patani, Sunil Grover, Tabu, Jackie Shroff, and Nora Fatehi among others, Bharat amassed over Rs 325 crore at the worldwide box office.