Shah Rukh Khan's role as the coach of Indian women's hockey team in "Chak De! India" (2007) made waves across the country. But it has now emerged that he was not the first choice for the role.
Apparently, director Shimit Amin's had approached Salman Khan first for playing coach Kabir Khan. But Salman rejected the project, and the director moved on to Shah Rukh.
In an interview with Screen India in 2007, the "Kick" star revealed that he was the initial choice of the director for that role, but he rejected the movie because of its title.
Salman felt that adding India in title would disappoint his fans from Pakistan and Bangladesh. But the director didn't change the title and the role went to Shah Rukh.
"I had a problem with the title. I wish they hadn't added India to the title. I felt our fans in Pakistan and Bangladesh might feel bad," Salman said during the interview.
Not only "Chak De! India", Salman also rejected one of the most commercially successful films of 1993 "Baazigar" which featured SRK in the lead. The role went to Shah Rukh, for which he earned Filmfare Best Actor Award.
In the interview, Salman said that he rejected director duo Abbas-Mustan's offer because they didn't change the angle as his father suggested. Salman also said that if he had accepted the offer, there would be no Mannat, SRK's residence, in Bandra.
"I had refused Baazigar. When Abbas-Mustan came to me with the script, I asked my dad for his inputs. He felt that since it's a story of a negative character they should add an angle of the mother in it. They didn't agree. When I turned down the film, they went to Shah Rukh and then they added the mother angle! But I don't regret it at all."
"If I had done Baazigar then there would be no Mannat standing in Bandstand today," Salman added.
