Mujhse Shaadi Karogi is 20: Akshay Kumar-Salman Khan film’s Duggal sahab was based on a real person, Rajpal Yadav was force-fitted in the film

The success was a collective effort of David Dhawan who wanted to re-invent himself with a romantic comedy, Sajid Nadiawala’s stubbornness to have the talented Rajpal Yadav in the film, and the creative effort of Rumi Jaffery who wanted to avoid the repetitiveness of his 1997 film Deewana Mastana. A little bit of inspiration from real life characters gave us the iconic Duggal Sahab, and Jaffery has an interesting story to tell.

Jaffery gives the credit to filmmaker K Bhagyaraj for the film’s idea, and reveals Duggal sahab (played by Kader Khan) — a meme favourite to the day — was inspired by a real person.

He said, “The character was inspired by filmmaker Rahul Rawail’s father HS Rawail’s best friend, Ridku uncle. He was just 2.5 feet tall and you can find him in every film of HS Rawail such as Mere Mehboob and Mehboob Ki Mehendi. He used to live with HS Rawail like his own brother at his residence. So when I was writing Anjaam, Rahul casually discussed with me a very strange health complication of Ridku uncle. He told me that when he would wake up, he wouldn’t be able to see anything, sometimes he would have hearing impairment. I was shocked, but also found it quite funny. I told him I will use it in one of my films. Rahul said nobody will believe it. I was like why not, he will be a great character in a comedy drama. Several years later, I brought this character to life in Mujhse Shaadi Karogi.”

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Jaffery also revealed that Rajpal Yadav was a last-minute addition in the film and it was a task for him to create a role for the actor. The actor was fresh off the success of Jungle (2000) where he played a psychotic bandit for laughs with elan. Producer Sajid Nadiadwala called Rajpal and added him to the cast without speaking to Jaffery. “I am making a comedy drama with Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar, unn dono ke role ke baad third best tumhara hi hoga, Rumi se role sunlo. (Yours will be the third best role in the film, get your briefing from Rumi),” the producer told Rajpal. Rumi said when he received a call from Rajpal, he was nonplussed.

“I called Sajid and asked what role has he given to Rajpal Yadav. Sajid said, ‘I just want him in the movie, now you figure out how.’ I was extremely stressed and I was constantly getting calls from Rajpal. The shooting date was nearing. Rajpal would say, ‘Bhaiya please brief me about my role so that I can understand its needs and start working on them’. To put him off, I told him, ‘okay, see me tomorrow’. After hanging up the phone, I started to think what role to give him. There was a role of a broker and then there was the role of a rowdy, who was the gang leader of the Eagle gang, which was originally written for Vindu Dara Singh”, Rumi told us.

He added, “By evening, I decided to give him a double role — both as the broker and the gang leader. The idea of twin brother occurred to me and it seemed just the right role for him. Soon, I called Sajid Nadiadwala and briefed him the role, he loved it. Finally, I briefed him (Rajpal) the role and he was quite satisfied. It was a very challenging situation. Just because Rajpal was a good actor, the role was created for him at the last minute.”

Mujhse Shaadi Karogi also made pugs the dog breed of choice. Rumi confesses to be obsessed with pugs since the time of Chalte Chalte (2003). Though he couldn’t use the real dog in the previous film, he successfully cast the dog in Mujhse Shaadi Karogi. “Kutta nahi, beta hai mera”, says Colonel sahab (played by the legendary Amrish Puri).

“The dog died mid-shoot”, revealed Rumi Jaffery. “Another interesting fact is that the dog initially used in the film was quite old, so it died during the shoot. But, luckily, all dogs look the same, so we brought a similar looking dog and completed the shoot with that.”

When we reached out to Rajpal Yadav, whose talent forced the unit to create a role for him, the actor had nothing but gratitude. He said, “It feels like yesterday. Soon after Jungle, I bagged several film offers and one of them was Mujhse Shaadi Karogi. It was my first big commercial film with such an ensemble cast. It was more like a dream to work with Kadar Khan and Amrish Puri. This was my first film with Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan, and it was quite an experience.” While he called the entire filming a fun experience, he fondly recalled the magician sequence. “I was having too much fun balancing my body in the air”, laughed Rajpal as he recalled the shooting experience.

Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, which became the fourth highest-grossing Indian film of 2004, was also appreciated for ahead of time movie set. Although the film was set in Goa, it was mostly shot on two detailed sets created by Sharmishta Roy in Mumbai’s Film City and Mauritius.