Before Juhi Chawla came on board, Yash Chopra wanted to launch Aishwarya Rai in the Hindi film industry with his psychological thriller Darr.
The 1993 psychological thriller Darr was directed and produced by Yash Chopra under his banner Yash Raj Films. Along with Baazigar and Anjaam, Darr is the third film in which Shah Rukh Khan famously played the villain role before becoming the poster boy of the romantic films in Bollywood.
Shah Rukh plays Rahul Mehra, who is passionately in love with Juhi Chawla's Kiran Awasthi and gets obsessed with her after she gets engaged to Sunil Malhotra, essayed by Sunny Deol. But Juhi wasn't Yash Chopra's first choice for Darr. It was none other than Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
In an interview with Bollywood Hungama in 2023, the famous costume designer Neeta Lulla shared that she and the director Yash Chopra even did a look test for the film with Aishwarya and added, "Yashji and I discussed and we said she is beautiful. But he said maybe it won’t work out because she is going for Miss World pageant and she went away." Aishwarya Rai went on to win the Miss World title for India in 1994 and made her acting debut in Mani Ratnam's Iruvar in 1997.
After Aishwarya, several other actresses were considered for the romantic thriller film. Raveena Tandon has mentioned multiple times that she was also offered Darr. In an interview with ANI in 2023, she had said, "Darr had come to me first, though it was not vulgar, but earlier there were some scenes in Darr, I was not comfortable with." Reports also state that Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit, and Divya Bharti were also considered to play the leading lady in Darr.
After its release in the Christmas weekend in 1993, Darr went on to become a blockbuster and even won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. The film also starred Annu Kapoor, Tanvi Azmi, Dalip Tahil, and Anupam Kher in supporting roles.
READ | Not Salman Khan, this actor was Rakesh Roshan's first choice for Karan Arjun with Shah Rukh Khan
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