Farah Khan started out as a choreographer in the Hindi film industry and then switched to direction. She made her first film, Main Hoon Na, in 2004, with a star-studded cast including Shah Rukh Khan, Sushmita Sen, Naseeruddin Shah, Kirron Kher, Suniel Shetty, and more. The 59-year-old choreographer-turned-filmmaker once opened up about the behind-the-scenes of her debut directorial film.
During a conversation at the IFTDA Masterclass, Farah Khan shared an interesting casting anecdote from her first film. She initially offered the antagonist’s role in Main Hoon Na to the acclaimed actor, Naseeruddin Shah. The latter denied the role. Later, the filmmaker faced challenges as she approached Kamal Haasan and Nana Patekar for the role, but they, too, declined. Eventually, she offered the role to Suniel Shetty, and he immediately agreed. In her words:
“That’s a very long story. Naseer will kill me. I had first gone to Naseer to play the villain’s role. We went to many people for the villain’s role, which finally went to Suniel Shetty. We first went to Naseer, and he made a fuss, and you know how Naseer is, he is very moody. He said I can’t do it.”
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Farah further mentioned that after casting the antagonist, she had again approached Naseeruddin Shah to play Shah Rukh’s father in Main Hoon Na, to which he complied. The filmmaker shared that being the moody person he is, Naseeruddin had troubled her a lot. Hence, she had made sure to complete his scenes within six days instead of ten. Recalling the incident, Farah added:
“There was a 10-day role of Shah Rukh’s father, which I went back to Naseer. I said abhi yeh toh kar lo. Naseer ne mujhe itna tang kia ki maine 10 din ka role 6 din mein khatam kar dia. I said iska shooting jaldi khatam karo but after that he has been wonderful. I love Naseer. He’s like me, muhnfat.”
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In the same interview, when the moderator asked Farah about her feelings on the eve of the release of her first directorial project, she shared a ‘not very good’ anecdote. She recalled that a national daily had published a review of Main Hoon Na giving it just one star. The filmmaker revealed that she felt like her whole world collapsed and she was bawling her eyes out.
Farah added that she was alone at her home when she read the review. However, one of her friends pulled her out of that zone and asked her to accompany her to Chandan Cinema, a theatre near her house. She recalled seeing people going gaga over Sushmita Sen’s entry in the film. Further, Farah said that for the longest she could not enjoy the success of her film due to that one review. However, she thoroughly enjoyed the success of her next film, Om Shanti Om.
Check out the interview here.
What do you think of Farah Khan’s revelations about her first directed movie, Main Hoon Na?
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