Do you know? Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan was never the first choice to play the titular character in Farhan Akhtar’s ‘Don’ series.
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In one of his recent podcast interviews, actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar, who helmed the direction of both films, with Shah Rukh Khan in and as ‘Don’, disclosed that he wanted to make the movie with his ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ co-star Hrithik Roshan, and even gave him his word after the two collaborated on ‘Lakshya’.
“Hrithik [Roshan] and I did Lakshya, and we had an incredible, wonderful time working together. So I reached out to Hrithik and said, ‘I’m thinking I’m going to remake Don‘. I told him, ‘Let me write it and I’ll bring it to you’,” Akhtar disclosed.
He continued, “When I was writing [Don], the only person whose face is popping into my head is Shah Rukh, from what I knew him. We’d spent some time together, hanging out at a party here or a party there, with some common friends in Delhi. So the way he was, not his cinematic image, but him, his personality, his wit, the little sarcastic sense of humour he has, self-deprecating, he can make fun of himself.”
“When I was writing, I thought this guy is the best actor for this part. But I’d already given my word to Hrithik. So I called up Hrithik and told him, ‘I’m writing the film I spoke to you about. But the more I’m writing, I’m feeling I should reach out to Shah Rukh for this film,” recalled the ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ actor. “And I’ll never forget, he said, ‘Farhan, you’ve to make your film, and in the best way possible. If you think he’s the guy, please go ahead and call him. Don’t worry about me.'”
“That is a very gracious thing,” he concluded.
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Notably, Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s production banner Excel Entertainment, got the rights to remake the Amitabh Bachchan starrer 1978 title ‘Don’ and rebooted the franchise in 2006 with the first film titled ‘Don: The Chase Begins Again’ starring SRK in the titular role. He reprised his role in the sequel ‘Don: The King is Back’ (2011).
Khan was replaced by A-list star Ranveer Singh for the third and final part, scheduled for next year’s release.
Meanwhile, he is set to play a don in Sujoy Ghosh’s next, ‘King’.
