1. – Sanjay Dutt, Khal Nayak, India, 1993. Nana was first thought for an infamous criminal. Nana thought differently.
2. – Sunil Shetty, Main Hoon Na, India, 2004. Bollywood’s Morgan Freeman-cum-Jean Reno was very keen to be the masked terrorist in the romantic comedy. He never did it for a most unique reason in this casting collation… Choreographer turned director Farah Khan was too scared to contact him!
3. – Vivek Oberoi, Kaal, India, 2005. Rejected the horror rubbish. So did Saif Ali Khan. Wise men.
4. – Suman, Sivaji, India, 2007. After director S Shankafr lost two of his previous stars, Raj and Aishwarya Rai, to busy schedules, the casting of Sivaji began to match that of a Bond film. Seven stars jostled for the titular gangster’s moll, six more for the major dance number, two for the crook’s Mama (Uncle, actually)… and five guys fought for Adisesha – from Nana Patekar to the mighty Amitabh Bachchan.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 4