Dilip Kumar regretted turning down Pyaasa, Lawrence of Arabia, recalls Javed Akhtar: ‘Guru Dutt even offered to reshoot Pyaasa but…’

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Akhtar added, “Baiju Bawra was offered to him, but he didn’t do it.” He then shared that the reason that he skipped doing Pyaasa was because he felt like he was already doing a dark story with Devdas. “Not only did Guru Dutt offer Pyaasa to Dilip saab, he even organised a special screening for him after shooting seven reels of the movie. Guru Dutt told him, ‘Please watch this. The movie is yours; I am only doing it out of compulsion. If you are willing to do it, I will reshoot the seven reels.’ However, Dilip saab turned down the offer, explaining that he was already doing Devdas, which featured a similar love triangle. He regretted this decision later,” he recalled.

Javed also revealed that Dilip Kumar was also offered Lawrence of Arabia. “As for Lawrence of Arabia, David Lean wanted him to play Sherif Ali ibn el Kharish, a role that eventually went to Omar Sharif.” Hearing this, Aamir Khan remarked that it was good Dilip Kumar turned down Lawrence of Arabia, as “he shouldn’t have done anything less than the titular role.” He added, “That’s what I feel as a fan.”

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Apart from these films, Dilip Kumar also refused films like Zanjeer, which started Amitabh Bachchan’s journey as the ‘angry young man’. In fact, he also refused the role of Thakur in Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay, that was later played by Sanjeev Kumar.