April 30, 2008 6:27:16 PM IST Joginder Tuteja, Bollywood Trade News Network

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In what could perhaps be the first time in the history of Hindi cinema, the protagonist of a film (which even borrows its title from her name), would not be seen in the film. To make matters more interesting, all of this happens when she has actually shot for the film in a major way, only to see a cool exit from the final cut of the film.

The actor in question? Aarti Chabaria. The film? ANAMIKA - THE UNTOLD STORY. Over to film's director Anath Mahadevan to give is spill the beans on the 'untold story'!

'This is purely an editorial decision which has made us do away with Aarti's part completely from the final cut of 'Anamika'', informs Ananth Mahadevan who had 'Victoria No. 203' and 'Aggar' releasing in 2007, 'In the film, 'Anamika' is the figment of Minissha Lamba's mind, who plays Dino Morea's wife. While Aarti and Dino are married earlier, after her death Dino doesn't want anything around him which would remind him of his wife.'

Disclosing more about the film's plot, Mahadevan adds, 'Due to this reason, he lets go of everything, whether it is her belongings or photographs. This leaves Minissha clueless about how 'Anamika' would have looked like. Though we did shoot major portions with Aarti in the beginning, during editorial sitting it seemed to make sense if we don't project on screen what she looked like. It only added on to the confusion of Minissha's character since just like audience, even she would not be in the know-how of 'Anamika' and could only speculate about her.'

So is it a complete exit for Aarti? Says Mahadevan in a regretful tone, 'Unfortunately yes, even though she did a good job in the film. She does appear here and there but you have to catch her since she is visible only in flashes. However, the decision had to be taken since the character of 'Anamika' only gains due to this and becomes bigger. For something which comes out of imagination, it would not have made sense to show it in flesh and blood.'

For an actor who has worked hard on a film, it may be quite a tough call to follow the director's vision. 'There is nothing controversial here and I am sure Aarti will understand the situation', says a hopeful Ananth.

An adaptation of 'Rebecca', 'Anamika - The Untold Story', which is produced by Bhanwar Lal Sharma, also stars Koena Mitra and Gulshan Grover apart from Dino, Minissha and a non-existant Aarti. With music by Anu Malik, the film is releasing this Friday.