We are so satisfied watching Farhan Akhtar as the lead in Bhag Milkha Bhag. What if I tell you that it was not him but Akshay Kumar who was first approached to play the lead? Will you be able to imagine him playing the character of the Flying Sikh of India? Certainly not! Just like Akshay, there are several other Bollywood stars who have turned down the Blockbusters and have let go of a chance to leave a strong imprint on the audience’s mind.
1. Hrithik Roshan let go of Dil Chahta Hai
The evergreen movie of three friends, Dil Chahta Hai was turned down by Hrithik who was offered the role of Akash. Later the role was grabbed by Mr. Perfectionist of Bollywood, Aamir Khan. Hrithik denied playing the character as he was more dedicated towards another movie i.e. Yaadein. Also, I believe no one could have played Akash’s character better than Aamir, no offense.
2. Kareena Kapoor Khan let go of Kal Ho Na Ho
We can’t possibly think of a different cast for the blockbuster Kal Ho Na Ho. Shah Rukh’s love for Preity and the latter’s love for Saif Ali Khan, the triangle can’t imagine any other actors except these three. But, do you know that Kareena Kapoor aka Bebo was offered Naina’s role? She rejected the role as told by Karan Johar in his autobiography “The Unsuitable Boy.” He says, “I offered Kareena Kal Ho Na Ho and she asked for the same money as Shah Rukh.” Hence, Preity bagged the role of innocent Naina.
3. Saif let go of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
Saif Ali Khan calls him a ‘nutcase’ for rejecting Kuch Kuch Hota Hai post it’s a huge success. Aman, the character who was to get married to Anjali, was offered to Saif. After he turned down the role, Salman Khan came into the picture and garnered a lot of appreciation for his mind-blowing performance. This Karan Johar directional never fails to bring a tsunami of emotions irrespective of how many times you’ve watched it before. Saif! You surely made a mistake.
4. Salman let go of Chak De India!
Paint a picture of Chak De India with Salman Khan and not Shah Rukh Khan. Are you able to digest it? Certainly not because Shah Rukh’s vibe matches the vibe of highly dedicated hockey coach Kabir Khan. It’s hard to connect Salman Khan with a character like this, hence, thankful to him for not choosing Chak De India! In fact, he himself revealed, “When I was offered Chak De, my image was totally different. That was not my genre at that point in time. It was a more serious kind of film and I was doing more of a commercial kind of cinema which I am still doing.”
5. Kangana let go of The Dirty Picture
Vidya Balan’s one of the most successful movies ‘The Dirty Picture’ brought her a National Award for her role as Silk Smitha. What you don’t know is that this role was first offered to Kangana who obviously rejected it, hence, the role went to Vidya and she nailed it. Kangana in her defense said, “Each character takes away a part of your life that you never get back. Those chapters are closed. For instance, after Fashion, I couldn’t do The Dirty Picture.”
6. Anushka let go of Tamasha
Anushka Sharma, the Bollywood Diva was offered the role of adorable Tara in Tamasha with co-star Ranbir Kapoor. Though she wanted to work with Imtiaz Ali, she rejected the movie for the script didn’t go well with her, hence she was left unimpressed. She believed that the movie focused more on the male protagonist than it did on the female protagonist. In fact, it was Tara’s character who brought Ved in terms of reality and made him believe that his dreams were of utmost importance. Anyways, thank god she did not go for it! Had she not done that we would have never been able to witness the overwhelming chemistry between ex-lovers Ranbir and Deepika. There were scenes where these two had an outburst of their real emotions while they were to perform their reel ones.
7. Kajol let go of Veer Zara
The evergreen love story of Veer and Zara brings a sack full of emotions whenever you watch it. The spine chilling chemistry of Preity Zinta and Shah Rukh Khan has each one of us sobbing with tissues. Now let me bring a shocker to you. It was Kajol who was first offered the role of Zara. Imagine her playing the bubbly character of Zara opposite Shah Rukh Khan. The movie would have spiked higher than it actually did. Their Jodi is one of the best onscreen jodis of Bollywood. Hence, had it been Kajol, Veer Zara would have been a bigger blockbuster. But, Preity played Zara pretty well and left no stone unturned to give justice to this role.
8. Deepika Padukone rejected Jab Tak Hai Jaan
This movie has a special place in every Bollywood lover’s heart as it was the last movie of ace director Yash Chopra. Meera is one of the most popular characters in this movie and guess what who denied the chance of playing this role? Deepika Padukon! Yes, it was she who was offered this role before it went to Katrina. Losing this chance Deepika kept herself away from becoming a part of one of India’s greatest blockbusters.
In the end, all the happens, happens for good! Hence, losing one opportunity must have brought these actors to double opportunities. No regrets at all!