‘Ajay Devgn wasn’t presentable, Raveena Tandon had 12 flops’, recalls Dilwale director: ‘Shah Rukh Khan said change the ending’ | Bollywood News

Ajay Devgn and Raveena Tandon-starrer Dilwale was one of the biggest hits of 1994, however, writer Karan Razdan’s first choice for the film was Shah Rukh Khan. In a recent interview, Karan recalled that Shah Rukh decided not to do the film because he did not like the ending, and shared that even filmmaker Subhash Ghai wasn’t convinced it. The film was directed Harry Baweja.
Speaking with Siddharth Kannan, Karan revealed his original casting plan and said, “The role that I gave to Ajay Devgn in the film Dilwale, was originally wrote for Shah Rukh Khan. I had gone to his house to narrate the story and he had liked the script. He just told me one thing, ‘Karan, at the end, the heroine should go with the other guy.’ I refused to change my film’s end. He refused to do it.”
Before Ajay landed this role, he was already a part of the film’s cast but was doing the other role, that was eventually done Suniel Shetty. “I went to Ajay’s set, and told him to do the other role. He readily accepted it. We then cast Suniel Shetty for the second hero role,” he said.
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After shooting almost 80 percent of the film, Karan decided to show it to filmmaker Subhash Ghai but the filmmaker’s reaction left him shocked. “He told me, ‘If you want to cry, cry right now, because you are anyway going to cry on the film’s release day.’ I asked why? He asked me, ‘Do you have any grudge against Ajay Devgn? He is not even presentable as a mad person.’ He couldn’t comment much on Suniel Shetty as he was relatively new in the industry. On the other hand, Raveena Tandon had delivered about 12 flops. People used to tease me, saying, ‘Tervi aapki hogi (13th will be yours)’.”
After much to and fro, Karan decided to stick to his plans and the film turned out to be a hit. “First day first show, the film was a super hit. Subhash Ghai called to congratulate me,” he said and recalled that when Shah Rukh met with him, he admitted that his suggestion wasn’t great and Karan did the right thing sticking to his plans.