Remember the girl from the song “Haye Rama Rama Haaye” who shot to fame for resembling Aishwarya Rai Bachchan? That was Sneha Ullal. Interestingly, acting was never part of her plan. But as fate would have it, the film industry found her before she could even think about entering it .
A personal crisis behind the decision
Sneha had no connection to Bollywood when, during a casual walk on the streets of Mumbai, someone spotted her and she unexpectedly landed a film offer opposite Salman Khan. However, Sneha says her decision to accept the film had nothing to do with stardom or a fascination for films. She simply wanted to bring some positivity into her home while her mother was battling cancer .
“When I was approached for the movie, I was personally in a very bad place. My mom was undergoing treatment for cancer. The environment in our house was quite depressing,” Sneha recalled in an interview with AlphaNeon Studioz .
She further shared, “I took up Lucky to divert my family’s mind. My mom loved travelling, so I accepted the offer to do this. It changed a lot of things for me irrespective of whether or not I was interested in the art” .
At the time, Sneha was just 16 years old, while Salman Khan was 38 .
The compromise
Reflecting on her sudden rise to fame, Sneha admitted the experience came with heavy sacrifices. “I received a lot of love for the movie. It was a difficult journey. That film took a lot from me, but at the same time gave me a lot too. It took away my freedom, my college life. I never got to live my teenage years or my 20s. I went from being 16 to an adult overnight. It was a compromise. I didn’t understand it then, but now I do” .
She, however, added that “Salman Khan took good care of me” .
Salman’s patience and support
When asked whether Salman ever lost patience with her since she was a newcomer, Sneha responded, “Not even once. He was very patient with me, very supportive. Salman Khan didn’t show the Salman Khan attitude to me that people know about” .
The Aishwarya Rai comparisons
Apart from the film itself, Sneha Ullal also became widely known as Aishwarya Rai’s lookalike. Speaking about the comparisons, she said, “When Aishwarya Rai became Miss World, people around me would say I looked a lot like her. Later, the PR game was such, and since I debuted opposite Salman Khan, people connected the dots in that angle. But it never bothered me. I was too young for all that” .
Regarding speculation that she was deliberately cast as a “replacement” for Aishwarya following Salman’s rumored breakup, the film’s directors, Radhika Rao and Vinay Sapru, have clarified that it was not a strategy. They revealed that Salman’s sister, Arpita Khan, suggested Sneha, who was her college mate .
Meeting Aishwarya
Sneha also recalled a warm encounter with Aishwarya. “I met Aishwarya once, and she said, ‘Welcome to the family. Welcome to Bollywood’, something like that. I told her ‘I’m sorry, please don’t hate me’. There was so much comparison in the media at that time, I didn’t know if she took offence” .
A life away from glamour
Despite her lack of interest in acting initially, her looks brought her several offers from a very young age. “I would receive many offers since childhood. Every time I visited India from Oman, people from various brands would approach me. But we were extremely scared of this industry. I am not very glamorous; I’m extremely tomboyish” .
After her Bollywood stint, Sneha shifted focus to Telugu cinema with successful films like Simha. She is now 38 and selectively returning to screens with projects like Nilakanta, balancing acting with her passion for animal activism .
