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When Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan locked horns with Sanjay Leela Bhansali for dropping them from Devdas: ‘He hurt me, I’ll never work with him’

Sanjay Leela Bhansali had approached Saif Ali Khan for the role of Chunilal, where he had taken screen test of Kareena Kapoor for the role of Paro.

Sanjay Leela BhansaliWhen Sanjay Leela Bhansali dropped Saif and Kareena from Devdas. (Photo: Express Archive)

Back in the 2000s when Sanjay Leela Bhansali decided to make Devdas, he had two names in his mind Shah Rukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan. Shah Rukh for the main lead and Saif for the role of Chunilal. However, things didn’t work out and the role went to Jackie Shroff. Several reports suggested that it was Saif who turned down the role. However, that was not the case. According to the actor, it was Sanjay who moved on while the actor was still negotiating his fees.

In an interview with journalist Nilufer Qureshi in 2001, Saif shared, “Though Sanjay Bhansali thinks I’m silly, let me make it very clear that I didn’t turn him down. There was a miscommunication between us on the price. Also, let me clarify that I didn’t ask for an obscene sum of money. Without getting back to me and discussing the price, Sanjay closed the chapter. Nobody even told me that the negotiations were off till I called back to find out what was happening.”

In the same interview, the actor shared that even if he was cast in the film, he would be a miscast. “I felt I’d be hopelessly miscast as Chunilal. I didn’t think the role suited Motilal either in Bimal Roy’s Devdas. But at least, Motilal and Chunilal rhyme.”

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Co-incidentally, Saif Ali Khan’s now wife Kareena Kapoor too had a similar issue with the filmmaker for the same film. She claimed that Sanjay Leela Bhansali took her screen test for Devdas, but later cast Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. She was so hurt that in an interview with Filmfare, she said, “He screen-tested me for Devdas, gave me a signing amount, then took someone else. That was wrong, it hurt especially because I was at the start of my career. It’s okay, because the day he dropped me, I signed Yaadein. Sanjay hurt me. Even if I have no work, I’ll never work with him.”

However, Sanjay denied the allegations confirming that he did take her screen test, but had made clear that it doesn’t mean that she is finalised for the role.

It has been 23 years since Devdas and till date, Saif and Kareena have never worked with him.

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