Salman Khan shared an old picture of his father Salim Khan on social media on August 8
Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Bajirao Mastani' is once again in news. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan recently revealed in an interview that she was the director's first choice for Mastaani's role but had to turn down the offer as Sanjay could not find Bajirao for her.
It is common knowledge that Salman Khan and Aishwarya were the original choice for SLB's 'Bajirao Mastani'. But, his dream could never come true as the former couple refused to share screen space after their bitter break-up. The film, however, was eventually made with Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra.
But, very few know that there have been other makers before Bhansali who fancied the idea of making a film on the love story of the Maratha warrior and Mastani. In fact, a film called Mastani (1995) was directed by Dhirubhai Desai and starred Agha, Manhar Desai and Nigar Sultana.
It's a lesser known fact that Salman Khan’s father, writer Salim Khan, was approached in the ’50s to essay the role of Bajirao in a title role to be directed by Marathi writer-director Vishram Bedekar.
Salman recently shared an old picture of his father and now we know why the producers considered him for the role.
Check out the picture -
Salim Khan had even confirmed the news to DNA in a 2015 interview.
“Before Vishram approached me, I had done a couple of small roles. He couldn’t engage any big star to act in his film as the actor playing Bajirao had to shave his hair completely. I was a newcomer. I would have cut my head for the role (laughs)! It was a big break for me so I met them for an interview for the role. In those days, there were no auditions. I went to Vishram’s Worli residence. He liked me and offered me the main lead. The script had not been finalised neither were the heroines. As Vishram was making a proposal, it turned out to be an expensive film, being a costume period drama, which wouldn't recover the cost with a newcomer playing the Bajirao, so the idea was dropped,” he had said.
By a strange twist of fate, neither Salim nor Salman could finally do the role.
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