Shah Rukh Khan Told Farah Khan That Kamal Hassan Would Blindly Do Main Hoon Naa As He Owes Him A Film(Photo Credit –Instagram/Poster)
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Farah Khan’s debut directorial, Main Hoon Naa, turns 19 today. The Shah Rukh Khan and Sushmita Sen multistarrer were loved by all and hated by very few. But the ‘behind the scene’ stories for this film are even more exciting than the film. From casting to shooting, Farah had to go through a lot to deliver her first baby, which was a magical hit at the Box office later.
We caught our hands on an interesting trivia from the film and thought to share it here. We all know that Suniel Shetty was not the first choice to play Raghavan, but Naseeruddin Shah was pitched for the role and chose to play the shorter role in the film. But do you know even he was not the first choice for the film? But it was Kamal Hassan instead. and Farah Khan was given an assurance by SRK himself.
Shah Rukh Khan had told Farah Khan that Kamal Hassan owes him a film since he did the same for the Abhay actor by featuring in his bilingual film Hey Raam. Hence, SRK was sure that Hassan would not refuse to play the antagonist for Main Hoon Naa, which was produced by Red Chillies and was Farah Khan‘s first as a director. So she flew down to Chennai to cast the Hey Ram actor and here is what happened next.
Farah Khan, in a podcast with Rajeev Masand, told this story with some extra masala. She narrated, “For the role of Raghavan, I went to Kamal Haasan first. Shah Rukh Khan told me that ‘he’ll blindly do the movie as he owes me a favour. I have done Hey Ram for him and I have suffered during its shoot. I was made to sing Telugu and Tamil songs’! So he assured me he’ll do it. Hence, I went to Chennai. Kamal Haasan was very nice, and he met me and showed me the rushes of the film he was then making. He took me to the office and fed me lunch. Finally, he told me he can’t do my film.”
She further narrated what Kamal Hassan said. “Unless it was something like my own Abhay where I played both the protagonist and antagonist. Playing an anti-national just didn’t fit into my scheme of things. Shah Rukh Saab played a true-blue patriot, a brave Pathaan willing to lay down his life for our country in Hey Ram. I was being offered just the opposite.” Hassan told Farah.
Later the role went to Nana Patekar, who wanted a back story on Raghavan, and Farah added that but did not cast him. Finally, the role went to Suniel Shetty, and the film revived his career. After talking so much about Main Hoon Naa, we guess it’s time to revisit the film!! BRB!
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