Shocking! Salman Khan’s father Salim Khan was first offered the role of Bajirao

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s dream project ‘Bajirao Mastani,’ for which he had been working hard for since several years, finally became a reality with Ranveer Singh as Peshwa Bajirao and Deepika Padukone as Mastani. As we all know, Mr Bhansali wanted to make this dream project with his ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’s’ lead pair Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Salman Khan. After their fallout, the task to complete this dream with Aishwarya and Salman seemed next to impossible. It would have been indeed mesmerising to see Salman as Peshwa Bajirao and Aishwarya as his love interest ‘Mastani.’ But, just for a split second forget about Salman and Ranveer and just visualise Salma Khan’s father Salim Khan as Peshwa Bajirao. Shocking, isn’t it?

Before even Sanjay Leela Bhansali thought of making a movie ‘Bajirao Mastani’ with Salman Khan in the lead, actor-scriptwriter and Salman Khan’s father Salim Khan was offered a role to don the hat of Bajirao in 50’s. In an interview, Salim Khan said that he was approached by filmmaker Vishram Bedekar to play the role of Bajirao. “In those days, there were no auditions. I went to Vishram’s Worli residence. He liked me and offered me the main lead. The script had not been finalised neither were the heroines. As Vishram was making a proposal, it turned out to be an expensive film, being a costume period drama, which wouldn’t recover the cost with a newcomer playing the Bajirao, so the idea was dropped,” further stated the ‘Sholay’ writer.

This is indeed something we never knew before. The costume drama trend has been prevalent since ages and it would have been great to see Salim as the ‘Bajirao’ and if Salman would have followed his legacy of portraying Bajirao on silver screen then it would have been like the cherry on the cake.

Also Read: SHAH RUKH KHAN AND SALMAN KHAN’S ‘BHAIBHAI’ SELFIE IS HARD TO MISS

Nikita Thakkar

A strongly opinionated, free-spirited, budding Bollywood journalist, she likes to write anything in her own quirky style. When not running around to get assigned tasks completed, you will find her either painting, indulging in photography or dreaming in the la la land.