Salman Khan and the entire crew of Ali Abbas Zafar's Bharat are gearing up for the release of the film this Eid. While the trailer and songs of Bharat have already been recieved quite well, Salman Khan's chemistry with Katrina Kaif has once again become the talk of the town. 

However, Katrina wasn't originally supposed to play the part. Kat was roped in after Priyanka Chopra, who was originally signed for the part, walked out of the film, citing her wedding with Nick Jonas as the reason, she couldn't accomodate the film in her schedule. 

Now, in a recent interview with Pinkvilla, Bharat co-producer Atul Agnihotri opened up on what happened post Priyanka's exit and how Katrina came on board. He also revealed that Priyanka hasn't texted him till date. 

Atul was quoted as saying, "Priyanka still hasn't texted me. She never spoke to me about walking out of Bharat. It was a message I received on the set. I was like, 'It's okay, yeh ho gaya. But let's now fix it'. The news came to me via people."

He added,"I understand she was getting married and was in love. So, it's okay because that's the bigger decision of her life. Of course, it's great to discover and find love and it's even better to marry the person you love. I wish her all the best for her life. That one day, I could have felt a little different, but at the end of it, when you see things from the hindsight, it's fine."

When asked if Priyanka's walk out of the project days before the film began rolling, hurt, Atul further told the portal, "It doesn't hurt. But it upsets your planning. It's a Salman Khan film so the timing of the information left us a little unsettled for a bit. But we are fortunate to have friends and supporters who know that our only intention is to make a great film. Whoever saw that and came on-board, their contribution is priceless. It can't be reciprocated in words."

Interestingly, Atul also shared that for him, Katrina was always the first choice for Bharat, but apparently, Ali Abbas Zafar wanted Priyanka . "So for me, when Katrina came back in the project, it wasn't a setback in my head. I felt it was meant to happen. I'm consciously trying to cater to Bhai's fan base and there's a certain responsibility on me because it's an Eid release. I feel with Salman bhai, nobody looks better than Katrina. There couldn't have been a better time than making a film like Bharat. It's meant to be for them. Everything felt like a setback for a few minutes, but we were never facing a big roadblock," he added.