I read this article on Mid-day and just wanted to post it here.
Shah Rukh Khan was the first choice for Madhavan’s role in the film, and Mehra left no stone unturned in persuading him to accept the offer. According to sources, “There were two reasons that King Khan said no to Mehra. Firstly, he did not want to play second fiddle to Aamir Khan.”The second reason why SRK gave a thumbs-down to RDB was, “He did not like the role. He found Madhavan’s role too small in length and thought it lacked depth, compared to Aamir’s character. To tell you the truth, he was shocked that someone was offering him a 15-minute role in a film.”
When contacted, Mehra confirmed to hitList, “Yes, I did offer Madhavan’s role to Shah Rukh.
SRK was my first choice to play Flight Lieutenant Ajay Rathod’s character, opposite Soha Ali Khan. We met and I narrated the whole role to him. But things didn’t work out. He could not give me the dates I wanted.”
Was it only the dates that could not bring SRK and Mehra together? “Well, when things don’t work out, there is always more than one reason,” quipped Mehra, who also directed Amitabh Bachchan-starrer, Aks.
Asking Madhavan to step into SRK’s shoes is a big surprise. Didn’t the equity of the project decrease? “Others may look at it that way, but I don’t,” Mehra shot back.
Hmm…Shahrukh Khan rejected Madhavan’s role? I don’t even know what to think of that. For a minute, I thought that he was right in doing so because it really was too short of a role and Shahrukh wouldn’t have played a side actor with Aamir. But, on the other hand, it would be a privilege for anyone to be associated with a movie like Rang De Basanti. And plus, Madhavan’s role was very powerful and there’s no such thing as a small role as long as the role is impactful, which it was. Maybe the problem was dates, who knows! But, I’d have loved to see Shahrukh and Aamir act together, I hope it happens soon.
Hmm…Shahrukh Khan rejected Madhavan’s role? I don’t even know what to think of that. For a minute, I thought that he was right in doing so because it really was too short of a role and Shahrukh wouldn’t have played a side actor with Aamir. But, on the other hand, it would be a privilege for anyone to be associated with a movie like Rang De Basanti. And plus, Madhavan’s role was very powerful and there’s no such thing as a small role as long as the role is impactful, which it was. Maybe the problem was dates, who knows! But, I’d have loved to see Shahrukh and Aamir act together, I hope it happens soon.
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Interesting…. in any case Madhavan was better
Mdhavan has always been better, even in Deal or No Deal, when recently he was replaced by the most horrible Host, making programme unwatchable :p
Also it was in news that Hrithik was offered the role played by the guy who speaks on AIR in the end… i.e. who played Anupam Kher’s son !
In any case, new faces were ofcourse better !
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