#THROWBACKTHURSDAY: Why Salman Khan refused Srk’s role in Baazigar?

It’s no news that Salman Khan was the first choice for Shah Rukh Khan’s role in Baazigar, the film that capitulated SRK to the skies of stardom. Now as the film is nearing 25 years of its completion, have a look at Bhai’s past interview from 2007 where he reveals the reason behind refusing the thriller:-

“I had refused Baazigar. When Abbas-Mustan came to me with the script, I asked my dad for his inputs. He felt that since it’s a story of a negative character they should add an angle of the mother in it. They didn’t agree. When I turned down the film, they went to Shah Rukh and then they added the mother angle! But I don’t regret it at all.” The actor’s next statement left us in splits, “If I had done Baazigar then there would be no Mannat standing in Bandstand today.”

Salman also refused the film Chak de! India, he said in one of his interviews that he wouldn’t have been able to do the role as effortlessly as SRK. Coming to Baazigar, it seems even two decades later, the actor continues to have reservations portraying villainous roles on the celluloid, latest example being Race 3, which turned out to more of a family drama than an edge-of the-seat thriller.

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