To play the main antagonist’s part of a rogue soldier Farah Khan was keen to cast Kamal Haasan. Yes, that was pretty ambitious for a debutant director. But Farah Khan had connections as a choreographer. She was a star in her own right. So she flew to Chennai confident that Kamal Haasan can’t say no to her, and if not she then producer Shah Rukh Khan’s closeness would work.
Shah Rukh had done a cameo in Kamal Haasan’s Hey Ram; SRK was confident Kamal would would return the favour. To Farah’s shock, Kamal Haasan turned down the part without losing time. Kamal Haasan was just not interested in playing an antagonist and that too an anti-national at that point of time.
“Unless it was something like my own Abhay where I played both the protagonist and antagonist. Playing an anti-national just didn’t fit into my scheme of things,” explained Kamal Haasan.
As for returning Shah Rukh Khan’s favour Kamal Haasan explained, “Shah Rukh Saab played a true-blue patriot, a brave Pathaan willing to lay down his life for our country in Hey Ram. I was being offered just the opposite.”
Left high and dry Farah went to Suniel Shetty to replace Kamal Haasan.
