Aamir Khan & SRK were first choices for 'Nayak', says ace director Shankar

‘Nayak’, a Hindi political thriller, which completed 20 years on September 7, was south filmmaker S Shankar’s foray into Bollywood. The film, which told the story of a TV reporter who turns chief minister of a state for a day and brings about a revolution, did not exactly set the box-office on fire but it gradually went on to become one of the most watched films on small screen.

The role of the TV reporter was played by the dapper Bollywood hero Anil Kapoor. But Kapoor was not Shankar’s original choice, it seems. Quoting from an old story in the August 2001 issue of ‘Filmfare’, Bollywood Hungama revealed that Shankar had approached Aamir Khan to play the lead.

But the two of them faced a huge “communication gap”.

“His views about ‘Mudhalvan’ (1999) didn’t match mine, so I quickly moved on,” said Shankar in the interview. ‘Nayak’ was the remake of the Tamil movie ‘Mudhalvan’, which was also directed by Shankar, with Arjun Sarja in the lead.

Shankar, who was keen to prove his mettle needed a Bollywood hit. He had until then directed ‘Kadhalan’ (Humse Hai Muqabala), ‘Indian’ and ‘Jeans’, and written ‘The Gentleman’. And, he had still not gone on to make his mega blockbuster movies with superstar Rajnikanth like ‘Sivaji: The Boss’ and ‘Enthiran’.

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The director took the project to superstar Shah Rukh Khan next. Though Shah Rukh Khan was more receptive than Aamir, he however declined the role since he had just played a television reporter in his home production ‘Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani’ (2000), which had just released at that time. And, he wasn’t keen on taking on a similar role at such a short interval, said Shankar.

At that time, Boney Kapoor told him that his brother Anil Kapoor would be happy to work with him. The Bollywood Hungama report said that Shankar was happy that he had collaborated with the evergreen actor.

“I’d heard that Anil was one of the most disciplined actors in the Hindi industry and so I decided to sign him on,” he said and his gamble paid off. Anil Kapoor completed his film in record time, and he showed a level of discipline which he thought was there only down South, said Shankar.

On choosing Rani Mukherji to play the romantic lead opposite Anil Kapoor in ‘Nayak’, Shankar said that she had the “bubbly image” he needed for the character. Manisha Koirala, who had played the female lead in the Tamil film, is a good actress, he said, but she had been around in Hindi cinema for a decade by then.

“In the Tamil version, we could get away with casting Manisha because she isn’t all that exposed in the South. For Hindi, I needed someone like Rani Mukherji or Preity Zinta,” reasoned Shankar.

Meanwhile, Anil Kapoor tweeted that 20 years ago he had been the Reel life CM for a day and the rest is history! “A lot of people had their views about me doing #Nayak but I knew I had to do this film & believed in its message! And now here we are celebrating #20yearsofNayak!!”

‘Nayak’ found new audiences when it had its television premiere and is a popular film in Anil Kapoor’s filmography. “I think it’s the subject matter that is just so relevant and relatable. The people, the government and the tensions therein will always remain a topic of great interest and personal relevance,” said Kapoor, reported The Indian Express.