Films that Shahrukh Khan rejected!

Everyone wants to work with Shahrukh Khan, but few get a chance as he usually prefers working with friends. But did you know SRK was Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s first choice for Munnabhai? That Rakesh Roshan was initially keen on casting him in Kaho Na Pyaar Hai?

Infact due to various reasons, SRK rejected several films that went on to be cult classics.

• Kaho Na Pyaar Hai – Shahrukh Khan was Rakesh Roshan’s first choice for Kaho Na Pyaar Hai after Koyla failed at the box-office. When things didn’t work out, Rakesh decided to cast his son Hrithik as the main lead. The film went on to create history at the box-office and won several awards. Most notably, Hrithik won every Best Actor award that year.
• Lagaan – Ashutosh Gowariker first offered Lagaan to Aamir, who initially didn’t want to produce the film. He then went to SRK, who wasn’t too keen either. Ashutosh then convinced Aamir and the rest, as they say, is history. Lagaan remains the only Oscar nominated Hindi film in the last 2 decades.
• Jodha Akbar – Not many know that Ashutosh Gowariker wanted SRK for Jodha Akbar after the failure of Swades. Some say, he wasn’t too happy about the film’s shooting locations as it wouldn’t allow him to spend time with his kids during their vacation.
• Munnabhai MBBS – It’s hard to even imagine anyone else playing the iconic role of Munnabhi apart from Sanjay Dutt. But both Rajkumar Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra wanted SRK for the film. Infact, Sanjay Dutt was to play the role of Zaheer, which eventually went to Jimmy Shergill. We have always wondered how SRK would have played the character of Munnabhai?
• Rang De Basanti – The classic Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra film was also first offered to Shahrukh, who wasn’t keen on doing the film.
• 3 Idiots – After two Munnabhai films, when Rajkumar Hirani wanted to adapt Chetan Bhagat’s book Five Point Someone into a film, he again wanted SRK to play the character that later went to Aamir. Post release, 3 Idiots went on to be the biggest grosser in the history of Indian cinema.
• Robot – Tamil director Shankhar wanted Shahrukh for Robot, a film which Rajinikanth eventually did in Tamil. Enthiran also created history grossing around 375 crores worldwide!

Some other not-so-huge films that SRK rejected are Sajid Khan’s Heyy Babyy and Mani Ratnam’s Raavan.