Abbas-Mustan reveal Anil Kapoor refused Baazigar, Shah Rukh Khan said yes on the spot: ‘Audience screamed when he threw Shilpa Shetty off the balcony’

Shah Rukh Khan’s role as an anti-hero in Baazigar is still considered a major milestone in his cinematic journey. For an actor who was still new in the film industry at the time, this was a huge risk but when SRK took up the role, he convinced the audience that they could also root for the bad guy. In a recent chat, film directors Abbas-Mustan recalled how SRK was keen to do the film as soon as he heard the narration.
Abbas-Mustan revealed to Pinkvilla that the film was first offered to Anil Kapoor who refused to do the role. “It came up in the discussion that we should narrate it to Anil Kapoor. He said that with the kind of films I am doing, I won’t be able to do this role. An actor named Amrit Patel used to work in Fauji, he came up with Shah Rukh’s name and suggested his name for the film. He said this actor is very passionate, he will do it well. Producer Ratan Jain also said let’s call him.”
The Ajnabee directors said that when they met with SRK, he wanted a narration from them. “We met him and he asked us to narrate the story. We asked if the writers will narrate it, and he said no, you guys narrate it because then I’ll know what you want from the film. We said our narration is not very powerful, it might not be attractive. We said we are not very good narrators. He said no I want to len to it from you. After lening, on the spot, he said yes. He said I am doing the film. Even with our bad narration, SRK was so intelligent, he understood what we want from the film,” they said.

Abbas-Mustan recalled that they went for the first day first show for the film and saw a reaction they had not even expected. They particularly spoke about the moment when SRK’s character threw Shilpa Shetty off the balcony and it led to a loud scream from the audience. Since there were no trailers in that era, the audience was not prepared for it. “When Shah Rukh threw her off the balcony, the audience screamed,” they said.
They continued, “When he walks off from the crime scene, people started clapping, whling. We did not expect this kind of reaction. The reaction was ‘this man is a superstar’. The audience was completely in SRK’s favour.” Baazigar was a turning point in Shah Rukh Khan’s career and is still seen as one of his best performances.