Salman Khan wanted to cast Kabir Khan's daughter as Munni in 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan'

Mumbai: Ever since Salman Khan launched the first teaser of his upcoming film ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’, all eyes were on the little girl Harshali Malhotra, who plays Munni a Pakistani girl who loses her way at the Indo-Pak border.

In a recent interview with DNA, director Kabir Khan revealed that Salman Khan actually wanted to cast his daughter Saira as Munni in the film. Kabir revealed that he auditioned thousands of young girls from all over the country, but Harshali stood out from the crowd.

“Every six-year-old can act, it depends on the director what he brings out. But in Harshali I saw a burning desire, a motivation to be a part of the film. You are shooting over a period of four-five months in difficult locations and attention span of a little girl can be very small. But Harshali has given an outstanding performance,” he said.

When asked about casting his own daughter as Munni he said the thought crossed his mine and Salman was also on board with it. “Honestly I did. In fact, Salman was very keen that I cast her. He is very close to my kids Saira and Vivaan and he felt that Saira, who is also six years old would be the perfect Munni. However, I wanted to go through the entire exercise and cast a girl who is 100 per cent correct. Saira was my safety net.”

‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ also stars Kareena Kapoor and Nawazuddin Siddiqui and will hit theatres on July 17.