Directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Rang De Basanti is one of the best films and there's no denying that! It starred Aamir Khan, Siddharth, Atul Kulkarni, Soha Ali Khan, Sharman Joshi, Kunal Kapoor, R Madhavan and others. It might take you by surprise that Siddharth's role was offered to Hrithik Roshan. Yes, you read that right! In his autobiography, The Stranger in the Mirror, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra described the challenges he faced during the making of Rang De Basanti.
One of them included the casting of Karan Singhania. The director revealed that he had approached many celebrities including Abhishek Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar and Hrithik Roshan. However, the actors turned down the role. "Every known actor kept declining the role to play Singhania. I had first offered it to Farhan Akhtar. This was a time when he had never acted in a film and was one of the most respected directors. He was both surprised and amused. When I narrated it to Abhishek, he told me point-black, "I thought you were crazy but after hearing your narration I think you are completely nuts."
He further revealed that he requested Aamir Khan to put in a word with Hrithik Roshan. "Aamir went to Hrithik's house. 'It's a good film - kar le'. But it wasn't meant to be. Finally, Siddharth signed on the dotted line in January 2005, one month before the shoot. He had never done a Hindi film before."
He continued, "Bharathi had seen the Tamil film Boys, starring Siddharth, a couple of months before the shoot, and his energy and unique combination of innocence and naivety came through. She thought he could pull off the conflict in Karan's character well." For the uninitiated, Hollywood actor Daniel Craig had auditioned for the role of James McKinley in Rang De Basanti. However, it didn't work out because around the same time, Daniel was also approached for the role of James Bond.
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