- Ajay Devgan, Hum Kisi Sed Kum Nahin, India, 2002. Hindi comedy director David Dhawan first asked Khan, Bollywood’s Official Badshah (Bad Boy), to play the bowling alley bouncer.
- Shahrukh Khan, Devdas, India, 2002. Three of the four mighty Khans of the Bollywood 90s were offered top roles. In the event, only the mightiest – Shahrukh – starred after Salman passed on the famous titular role of the much filmed 1917 novel by Bengali author Sarat Chandra Chattopadhye.
- Ajay Devgan, Hum Kisi Kum Nahin, India, 2002. Salman changed his mind about being Mumbai´s crime Baadshah in the Bollywood Analyze This, 1999. Ajay was no De Niro.
- Jimmy Shergill, Dil Ha Turnhaara (My Heart Is Yours), India, 2002. A decade earlier, director Rajkumar Santoshi announced the film for Khan, Sunny Deol, Meenakshi Seshadfri. Shekhar Kapur, Dimple Kapadia. New helmer Kundan Shah dumbed – and younged – the whole mess down for Shergill, Arjun Rampal, Rekha, a beastly Govind Namdeo and shining Mahima Chaudhry.
- Anil Kapoor, Humko Deewana Kar Gaye, India, 2005. Khan was due to play tycoon Karan Oberoi but opted out and Kapoor subbed. Lara Dutta was similarly replaced by Bipasha Basu. They probably foresaw such reviews as Lidi Ostepeev’s on Planet Bollywood. “The clichés …fall so thick and fast that it´s quite possible to believe that the film is there to showcase a successful musical score and nothing more.” Well, there was also plot-pinching from Force of Nature, Notting Hill… even Titanic!
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 4