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Salman Khan is one of the most well-established actors in Bollywood. The actor, who is lovingly called bhaijaan by his fans and colleagues, has been entertaining us for over two decades now with romance, comedies and action films. He had given us several hits, including some that are part of the 100 Cr and 200 Cr clubs. But did you know he rejected a couple of box office favourites too?
The quote “One man’s loss is another man’s gain” couldn’t fit better when revealing the hits Salman Khan said no to that proved to be enormous successes for his opponents.
From Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and Ghajni to Kal Ho Na Ho and CHak De! India, check out the Bollywood films Salman Khan said no to.
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Baazigar (1993)
Baazigar is that one movie through which Shah Rukh Khan was launched into the league of Bollywood stars. The role was initially offered to Salman Khan, but he rejected it because he thought playing an anti-hero was risky at that time. This negative role earned SRK a Filmfare Award for Best Actor.
In a past interview, while talking about saying no to Abbas-Mustan’s Baazigar, Salman said that he asked his dad, Salim Khan, his views on the film when he was offered it, and the legendary writer asked the director to put an angle of the mother in it. But the duo refused, and hence bhaijaan said no.
When asked if he had any regrets when the mother angle was added when it was offered to SRK, Salman said that if he had done Baazigar, then there would be no Mannat at Bandstand. Well…
Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge(1995)
Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge is a timeless romance that many of us are guilty of watching time and time again. While this film established Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol as one of the most popular on-screen couples to date, the makers originally had other stars in mind for the character that SRK played, Raj Malhotra.
From Salman Khan to Saif Ali Khan and Tom Cruise, the names to play Raj were many, but DDLJ made Shah Rukh a romantic star. An interesting trivia here is that Salman recommended SRK take up the role. During an appearance on Comedy Nights with Kapil, the Don star said bhaijaan had convinced him to take up the part and predicted that DDLJ would do much better than his 1989’s Main Pyaar Kiya.
Kal Ho Na Ho (2003)
We recently told you Kareena Kapoor Khan was supposed to essay the role of Naina Catherine Kapur in Kal Ho Na Ho. Today we tell you another exciting casting couch detail. As per reports, Salman Khan was initially offered Rohit Patel’s role – that was later played by Saif Ali Khan – as he didn’t want to play second fiddle to Shah Rukh Khan.
Barring a cameo in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai as Aman, we are yet to see Sallu Bhai star in a Karan Johar film. As for Saif’s performance in KHNH, the actor took home several awards for his acting talent.
Chak De! India (2007)
By the actor’s own confession, Salman Khan was initially supposed to play coach Kabir in Chak De! India. But him saying no to coach the Indian Women Hockey Team to victory gave us one memorable performance by Shah Rukh Khan. The conviction with which he delivers the speech before the game still gives us goosebumps.
During the promotions of Sultan, Salman Khan opened up about saying no to the project. The actor jokingly said, “I left it because even Shah Rukh Khan should be a part of a few great films. But on a more serious note, the Kick actor added, “When I was offered Chak De, my image was totally different as I was doing Partner and all those kind of films. My only thing in Chak De was that my fans would expect me to wear a wig and win the match for India which would not go for the film. That was not my genre at that point of time.”
He continued, “It was a more serious kind of film and I was doing more of a commercial kind of cinema. I would never move out of commercial cinema zone but it is just that there would be a lot of meaningful cinema in the commercial zone.”
Ghajini (2008)
What can we say about this role! Did you know after reading the script of Ghajini, Aamir Khan recommended Salman Khan’s name to the makers? Well, this is true, but for reasons still unknown, bhaijaan said no to it, and Aamir finally essayed the role on the silver screen.
The film was the highest grosser of the year, and we are sure Salman would have done as much justice to the role as Aamir did. The film marked the Bollywood debut of Asin Thottumkal, who later starred opposite Salman in Bodyguard.
Which of these box office favourites would you have love to see Salman Khan in instead of the actor who replaced him? Let us know in the comments.
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