New Delhi: Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali's magnum opus ‘Bajirao Mastani' has finally hit the theatres and is doing wonders at the box office.
We all know that this was Bhansali's dream project and he was working on it for over a decade. Infact, initially, Bhansali wanted to cast Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan for ‘Bajirao Mastani'. However, things didn't work out and finally the film saw the box office release with Ranveer Singh as Bajirao and Deepika Padukone as Mastani.
But little did anyone know that it was actually Salman Khna's father Salim Khan who was the first choice to play the Peshwa ruler Bajirao.
Surprised? Wondering how is it possible?
Well, actually we are not talking about Sanjay Leela Bhansali's ‘Bajirao Mastani'. Before Bhansali there have been other makers as well, who wanted to make a film on the love story of the Maratha warrior and Bundelkhand's princess Mastani.
One such person was Marathi writer director Vishram Bedekar, who wanted to make the movie and had approached Salim Khan in 1950s to play the role of Bajirao. Vishram Bedekar had directed films like Do Bhai, Rustom Sohrab and Ek Nanhi Munni Ladki Thi.
This revelation was made by Salim Khan himself. Salim Khan stated that “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 would not recover the cost with a newcomer playing the Bajirao, so the idea was dropped.”
While Salim acted in 20 odd films thereafter, he gave up acting in order to pursue his career in script writing and did wonders with his pen with films like Sholay, Seeta aur Geeta, Zanjeer, Trishul etc.
