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Filmmaker Farah Khan has revealed that she had a tough time casting for the villain role in her directorial debut Main Hoon Na, as several stalwarts of the industry turned the part down. Farah revealed that actors Naseeruddin Shah, Kamal Haasan and Nana Patekar were approached for the role, which was eventually played by Suniel Shetty.
Main Hoon Na was headlined by Shah Rukh Khan and also marked the debut of his rebranded production house Red Chillies Entertainment. The 2004 action entertainer was a blockbuster. In an interview with casting director Mukesh Chhabra for Mashable India, Farah opened up about the challenges she faced while casting the role of Raghavan Dutta, an ex-army officer turned terrorist.
“For Suniel Shetty’s part in Main Hoon Na, so many stalwarts said no to me. Naseeruddin Shah refused, then we went to Kamal Haasan. Shah Rukh told me, ‘Sir will definitely do it. I had done Hey Ram, sir loves me, he will do it.’ Kamal sir ne mujhe pura din pakaya and phir nahi kiya. Then I approached Nana Patekar, who sat on it for a week and said no.
“But he gave me some good pointers for the characters, that put some back story to that man. So, I put all of that but we couldn’t find anyone. We wanted someone big to be a villain. Then we went to Suniel sir and he immediately said yes. I showed him reference pictures of the kind of look I wanted. He was a joy to work with. In fact, everyone on Main Hoon Na was the best experience of all our lives,” she added.
The massive success of Main Hoon Na led to Shah Rukh and Farah teaming up again for two more films– Om Shanti Om and Happy New Year. Currently, there are reports that the filmmaker has approached the superstar for a new project– the sequel of Main Hoon Na, but Shah Rukh is yet to take a call.
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