Features

When these Bollywood stars REJECTED Hollywood!

Published on April 23, 2018

It’s perhaps more common now than ever to see celebrities cross borders and give the scripts that they have been receiving from overseas filmmakers, especially from Hollywood, a try, and, should it click, it may even have the potential to bring a tremendous amount of recognition to those who dared to look beyond the horizons.

Sure, off late, we have seen the likes of Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra take it to the west and make it big, but, did you know that filmmakers abroad had always been interested in collaborating with some of the biggest names that we have here, but received a no-go at the end of the day?

So, let’s take a look at some of our Indian superstars who came under Hollywood’s radar, but that’s where it ended for them.

Shah Rukh Khan – Slumdog Millionaire

Anil Kapoor as a game show host in the Oscar-winning Danny Boyle directorial turned out to be his ticket to Hollywood, but if this piece of news is true, we have full reason to believe that Boyle here was perhaps looking for authenticity as for the part which eventually landed in Kapoor’s lap, Shah Rukh Khan, who we have already seen hosting a couple of seasons of Kaun Banega Crorepati by then, was considered for the part. But however, w=things did not work out since as per Khan, the part was apparently not too good for him.

Akshay Kumar – an untitled movie with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson!

Well, don’t we like the site of that already? The two Khiladi’s of their respective markets had the opportunity entertain their audiences and cine-goers at large immensely. But, Kumar reportedly chose to give this one a miss. Now, one can only dream as of now to see them together.

Deepika Padukone – Furious 7

Before the Padmaavat actress made her Hollywood debut alongside Vin Diesel in xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage, her and Diesel were originally supposed to showcase their compatibility as a pair in the seventh installment of the Fast And The Furious franchise, but that was when DP was shooting for Happy New Year already. We totally applaud her commitment to work here.

Hrithik Roshan – The Pink Panther 2

Ever wondered why the man who we consider to be the Greek God of Bollywood, Hrithik Roshan, isn’t seen in a Hollywood flick already? Well, we wonder too. But, it obviously wasn’t like he hadn’t seen any scripts come his way, of which there were apparently many. Reportedly, the Fast And The Furious director Rob Cohen is a big fan of Roshan Jr. and expressed his desire of seeing him in a Hollywood movie. But, Roshan turned down the offer to cater to the wishes of his dad. He was later offered to play the part of Vicent in Pink Panther 2, which too went nowhere. Via this, there could have been a possibility that we would have seen the Dhoom 2 pair Hrithik and Aishwarya together. Now, wouldn’t that have been something?

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan – Troy

One would hardly ever reject a Hollywood epic drama with Brad Pitt in it in their right minds, but Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was clearly an outlier. That is not to say that she did not take the right call, but her reason for rejecting the same were seemingly legit. She apparently did not like the idea of cozying up with Brad as Briseis did not go down well with here. But eventually, the character got nominated for the Oscars. We will let you decide as to whether she took the right call or otherwise.

Priyanka Chopra – Immortals

Well, hits and misses are perhaps a part of every industry and Priyanka Chopra is also no exception to that rule. It so happened that before her international singing career and Quantico took off, she was approached to step into the shoes of a major character in the super-hit Immortals. But, like DP here, she stayed loyal to her project back home which was 7 Khoon Maaf. Guess one gains at the loss of other. Such is life.