Raees producer ‘laughed’ in Rahul Dholakia’s face when he said he wanted Shah Rukh Khan: ‘Irrfan turned it down because…’

The Parzania director then revealed that he had approached Irrfan Khan for the role but the actor rejected the script because he didn’t want to die in the end. “I’m not sure if it was prophetical on his part, but he just didn’t want to die in the film. But that was a deal-breaker of sorts. Raees had to die in the end. Then, when I approached Nawazuddin Siddiqui, he wanted to play the cop instead. Interestingly, Irrfan also wanted to play the role of ACP Jaideep Majmudar. How can I have two cops?” 

Rahul shared that after he sent the script to Farhan Akhtar, it turned into larger project. Farhan expressed interest in producing the film alongside his partner Ritesh Sidhwani, who asked Rahul to share a shortlist of five actors that he wanted for the lead role. “Ritesh asked me to give him a list of five actors for the role of Raees. I gave him one… Shah Rukh Khan, and he burst out laughing. I told him that I was very serious about bringing him onboard. Once, he was onboard, it was so wonderful. It was a life-changing experience working with him,” Rahul said.

ALSO READ: Raaes director Rahul Dholakia on Besharam Rang controversy: ‘Shah Rukh Khan doesn’t interfere as lot of things aren’t under actors’ control’

Raees, which starred Shah Rukh Khan, alongside Mahira Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Jaideep Ahlawat, was one of the top grossers of 2017, and was critically acclaimed for its no-nonsense approach towards telling the rise and fall of a gangster-turned-politician.