Aamir Khan rejected Hum Tum because he was going through divorce, Hrithik Roshan was delivering flop after flop, recalls Kunal Kohli

Director Kunal Kohli recalled how he cast Saif Ali Khan in Hum Tum after Aamir Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Vivek Oberoi rejected the film.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | May 16, 2025 09:32 AM IST

3 min read

Aamir Khan and Hrithik Roshan both rejected Hum Tum.

Saif Ali Khan’s career went through a massive transformation in the early 2000s, and it came about after he appeared in Farhan Akhtar’s Dil Chahta Hai. While the film gave him more opportunities, Saif was yet to prove himself as someone who could carry a film on his shoulders. He managed to do so with the 2004 film Hum Tum. Directed by Kunal Kohli and produced by YRF, the movie also featured Rani Mukerji. Hum Tum changed Saif’s perception as a leading star but before he got this chance, the film was offered to Aamir Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Vivek Oberoi. Kunal recently revealed that all of them rejected the film for different reasons, and shared that his first choice was Hrithik.

In a chat with Radio Nasha, Kunal said that they first approached Hrithik because Kunal had already worked with him in Mujhse Dosti Karoge, also produced by YRF. Rani was also a part of that film along with Kareena Kapoor. Kunal said that Hrithik “genuinely liked the script” but didn’t feel confident enough to do it as he was in the middle of a flop streak at the time. Hrithik had appeared in films like Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage, Na Tum Jaano Na Hum, Mujhse Dosti Karoge and Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon in this period, and Koi Mil Gaya was, presumably, yet to release. Kunal recalled Hrithik saying, “He said, ‘I have a few films coming up which, I know, will flop so I am in a bad place right now’.” He shared that Hrithik “wanted a hit film behind him to do this” and asked Kunal if he could wait a couple of years for him.

After this, the script went to Aamir Khan, who did not even read it as he was going through his divorce with his first wife Reena Dutta. “Aamir was going through his divorce with Reena so he said, ‘Yaar, I am not in a frame on mind to even hear the script, so I won’t even listen to it’,” Kunal recalled.

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The script then landed at Vivek Oberoi’s doorstep. At this point, Vivek was on the cusp of superstardom. He had appeared in a promising debut in Ram Gopal Varma’s Company, and delivered a commercial mainstream hit like Saathiya. “At first, he allotted his dates then he cancelled them and then he asked us to make some changes, then something else happened, then we were like, let it be,” Kunal recalled.

It was then that Aditya Chopra, who is now the head of YRF, suggested Saif Ali Khan’s name for the lead role. “I quickly visualised him in every scene and I felt he would be fantastic in it. Saif had not done a solo hero hit film. But Adi (Aditya Chopra) said, ‘I am confident’,” he shared and recalled that when Hrithik came for the trial show of the film, he felt that Saif was the “right choice.” Hum Tum is re-releasing in theatres on May 16.

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