When Saif Ali Khan was replaced in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas without his knowledge: ‘Without getting back to me, Sanjay closed the chapter’

Saif Ali Khan was offered the role of Chunilal in Devdas, and while he was still negotiating his salary, he found out that Sanjay Leela Bhansali had 'closed the chapter'.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | August 26, 2023 06:50 PM IST

2 min read

Sanjay Leela Bhansali offered Saif Ali Khan a supporting role in Devdas. (Photo: Varinder Chawla, Express Archives)

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Saif Ali Khan’s career was going through a transformation in the early 2000s after the actor appeared in Farhan Akhtar’s Dil Chahta Hai. Saif was getting a wide variety of offers at the time, and one of those offers was from Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Bhansali, who was making Devdas, offered Saif the role of Chunilal. The actor was in the middle of negotiations when he found out that Bhansali had moved on.

In a 2001 interview with journalist Nilufer Qureshi, Saif opened up about why he had taken up a supporting role in Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein but refused a supporting part in Bhansali’s film. “My character in Vashu’s film is much cooler than the one Sanjay offered me in Devdas,” he said. He shared that Bhansali thought him to be “silly,” but clarified that he wasn’t the one who turned down the part.

“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,” he said.

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He then said that even if he was cast in the role, he would be “hopelessly 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,” he said. Saif admitted that the only film he regrets turning down was Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, in which he was offered Salman Khan’s part.

In an earlier interview with India TV, Govinda had shared that even he was offered the same part in Devdas. Chunilal was ultimately played by Jackie Shroff. Saif and Sanjay are yet to work together.

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