MUMBAI: Divya Bharti was one of the most beautiful actresses. She made her debut with a lead role in the successful Telugu film Bobbili Raja in the year 1990 at the age of 16. 

After featuring in a number of high-grossing Telugu films, she progressed to the Hindi cinema in 1992 with the action thriller Vishwatma. She acted in over a dozen consistently-successful Hindi films over a year span. She worked in the movies between 1990 and 1993 and worked with most of the A-listers who ruled the 90s. But did you know that Divya Bharti and Aamir Khan were the original choices for Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla starrer Darr? 

However, neither Aamir nor Divya ended up in the film. It all started during the year 1992 when Divya lashed out at Aamir after he refused to perform with her during a tour in London. He claimed that he was disappointed with her erratic behaviour. In an interview, Divya said, "Aamir is not the one who should be upset with me. I'm the one who should be upset with that man. What happens when you're on stage live for a show, it's but natural that you might make a mistake. I did make a mistake which wasn't noticeable and I covered it up immediately. But Aamir noticed only because he knew the movements. The next thing I hear is that Aamir had informed the organisers that he wanted to rehearse with Lollypop, (the choreographer)'s sister Chiclet. What could I say?" 

Divya further said, "But what really upset me was when I saw Aamir doing the number on stage with Juhi Chawla instead. As it is I had only three numbers and while she had quite a few and here she was doing one more. For the rest of the shows, Aamir even opted out of the medley number he was supposed to have done with me. He said he was too tired. This only left me with one solo song 'Saat Samunder'. I was in tears. It was then that Salman came to my rescue. In spite of having a lot of numbers, in spite of having a broken foot, Salman Khan was sweet enough to agree to do the medley with me. I was very touched by the niceness of the gesture. And I'm sure Aamir must have been aghast." 

Speaking about the 1993 film Darr, Divya was signed opposite Sunny Deol as Kiran Awasthi's role in the film and while there were reports that Divya was out of the film because of her differences with the director and producer Yash Chopra, Divya's mother revealed that it was Aamir Khan who replaced Divya with Juhi on board. She said in an interview, "Many people still think that Divya lost Darr because she had a problem with Yash Chopra. That wasn't the case. When Sunny was signed, he wanted Divya opposite him. But Aamir wanted Juhi Chawla. Unfortunately, at that time, we were in America for some shows. Before we left they announced Darr with Sunny, Divya and Aamir. When we returned it was Sunny, Juhi and Aamir. It seemed that Aamir who was also working with Yash Chopra in Parampara managed to push Juhi and had Divya dropped. After he got Juhi into Darr, he was dropped and Shah Rukh was taken." 

However, there were reports that say that Divya was offered Deewana after Darr which previously starred Rishi Kapoor, Divya Bharti and Armaan Kholi. But due to some reasons, Armaan withdrew from the film and the role was then offered to Aamir but due to his differences with Divya, the role then landed on to SRK which was his debut film. 

Divya Bharti passed away at the age of 19 on 5 April 1993. Divya lost her life due to some head injuries which she sustained after falling off the balcony of her fifth-floor apartment at Versova, Mumbai. The Deewana actress was more than halfway through the filming of Laadla at the time of her death and the film was reshot with Sridevi replacing her. She was replaced in several other films she had not completed such as Mohra, Kartavya, Vijaypath, Dilwale, and Andolan. Some films which Bharti had not started shooting for were subsequently shelved. 

The late actress aspired to a career in films at a young age and started to get offers at the age of 14, while she was doing some modeling assignments. Her death caused a major loss to the Bollywood film industry. 

Credits: Lehren Retro, Pinkvilla