India, April 26 -- Bollywood actor Ameesha Patel recently recalled how Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's exit from Mangal Pandey: The Rising led to her landing the role. She also revealed that while she secured a part in Mangal Pandey because Aamir Khan appreciated her intelligence, she lost out on Lagaan as the director felt she looked "too educated" for the role.

In an interview with Bollywood Bubble, Ameesha spoke about replacing Aishwarya in Mangal Pandey and said, "Aamir actually saw my interview on the BBC and found me very intelligent. We had also done an interview together, and while they were setting up the camera, Aamir and I started playing noughts and crosses. It became a bit of an ego battle between us to see who would win more games...