Why it's hard to believe that Govinda was offered Avatar?

The lead actor of Avatar Sam Worthington wasn't a big star or top actor in Hollywood. He was an Australian actor. People hardly knew who he was when the film came out.

Most people still don't know who is the lead actor of Avatar. Audience never cared about the actors in this film. The motion capture technology and James Cameron were it's box office draw.

Cameron wasn't looking for a great actor or a Superstar for the lead role in this film. So why is it hard to believe that this film could be offered to Govinda? The claim ain't that outlandish as it's made out to be.

Now that doesn't mean I believe the whole story of Govinda. Him rejecting the film because he couldn't paint his whole body in blue is obviously a lie. I think something like this happened that he was asked to audition for the role and Govinda not knowing how Hollywood works didn't go for it.

But I don't think he's making this whole thing up. It's really sad if he's doing it. Why would he do it? Although even if the story is true, it's still sad because rejecting this film would be the biggest blunder in his career.

He was ? ! 0.o . He could have been one of the blue people !

He also said he gave Cameron the title. 😆

He's said he was offered a role that would take 400 plus days of being painted blue (hah - it's CGI!), but did he ever say it was the lead? Because yes that's truly impossible to believe.

I can't see Cameron looking for a then pudgy 40 something for his lead role who was a soldier. Cameron has never mentioned Govinda but has said he auditioned Chris Evans and Channing Tatum for the role (then all in their mid 20s) but chose Worthington. I mean which one of these men is not like the others?

You can definitely believe all that he has claimed. The media generally loves to portray him as a deranged loser and won't pass up any chance to mock him. They paint a picture of Govinda being approached by Cameron on the sets of Bhagam Bhaag . And Govinda refused and the role ended up with Sam Worthington.

If you check the dates and history of Avatar's production schedule, everything he said makes sense.

You can google for Avatar's earliest script written by Cameron in 1995.It was originally called Project 880. This script was significantly different than the 2009 film version. The protagonist wasn't even named Jake Scully. Project 880 was to be Cameron's follow upto Titanic with a planned 1999 - 2000 release.

This was the version actually offered to Govinda. He was one of the most successful Indian stars in the late 90s to early 2000s. He likely declined it as had several hindi films already in various stages of production. Cameron too later shelved the project as if felt that the technology to can this film wasn't upto his expectations.

Now regarding Govinda mentioning that he would have had to paint his body blue for 400 days. It may sound preposterous at first. But you only need to have a general understanding of the history of cgi and motion capture on film.

The first succesful or popular mocap character that looked very convincing was Golem from Lotr: Fellowship of the ring and its sequels directed by Peter Jackson. This was the first character to have facial expressions and acting mapped onto a cgi character. Jackson soon made King Kong in 2005 with the lead character mocapped by Andy Serkis.

It was after watching this 2005 King Kong film, that Cameron decided that it was time to revive and shoot Avatar with this new technology.And thus we got the 2009 version of Avatar.

The script and characters went for a rehaul and one would naturally wonder how Govinda would have fitted into the role of a US soldier.

Remember that Cameron had offered Govinda the role 8 years before the release of the final film. There was no motion capture back then and paint and makeup would have been the way to go. Like the Planet of the Apes film of Tim Burton that was released in early 2001.

Now about Govinda suggesting the title of Avatar to Cameron after listening to the story. That is also likely because the film was titled Project 880 for a very long time. He had changed the title to Avatar only in 2005.

Originally posted by: AwaamKiJaan

The lead actor of Avatar Sam Worthington wasn't a big star or top actor in Hollywood. He was an Australian actor. People hardly knew who he was when the film came out.

Most people still don't know who is the lead actor of Avatar. Audience never cared about the actors in this film. The motion capture technology and James Cameron were it's box office draw.

Cameron wasn't looking for a great actor or a Superstar for the lead role in this film. So why is it hard to believe that this film could be offered to Govinda? The claim ain't that outlandish as it's made out to be.

Now that doesn't mean I believe the whole story of Govinda. Him rejecting the film because he couldn't paint his whole body in blue is obviously a lie. I think something like this happened that he was asked to audition for the role and Govinda not knowing how Hollywood works didn't go for it.

But I don't think he's making this whole thing up. It's really sad if he's doing it. Why would he do it? Although even if the story is true, it's still sad because rejecting this film would be the biggest blunder in his career.

Originally posted by: Yojat

You can definitely believe all that he has claimed. The media generally loves to portray him as a deranged loser and won't pass up any chance to mock him. They paint a picture of Govinda being approached by Cameron on the sets of Bhagam Bhaag . And Govinda refused and the role ended up with Sam Worthington.

All that you are saying could possibly be true or could be incredibly far fetched. I will just address the above point

The reason Govinda is 'portrayed' as a deranged loser is because he acts like one. He went about bragging that he "REJECTED" Avatar as if James Cameron was dying to work with him but he could not commit. His interviews in the last few years have often ranged from either overflowing with misplaced self importance or being an A grade cry baby. From what I see, he is just unable to come to terms with his fall from stardom, while his peers like Anil, Sanjay, etc. continue to stay somewhat relevant.

You can have a fall out with 1-2 people and claim unfairness and being shunned. But when every person you worked with earlier is unwilling to work with you and keeps having a fall out with you, then surely the fault has to be with you.

He needs to self evaluate his position realistically. There is still plenty of scope on OTT platform and age is hardly a concern anymore to make a comeback. Look at Bobby Deol. But I don't think he will be able to shed his mental block of being a "superstar" and move to OTT, or put in the effort needed for it

He never did brag, did he? He simply answered Rajat Kapoor's question on Aap Ki Adaalat about why he had refused Taal, Chandini, Gadar , Slumdog and Avataar. The media and trolls made a big deal about this.

But he has been complaining a long time about the media treating him poorly and also on how his film releases were being sabotaged. In the light of Sushanth Singh's suicide and exposure on how the media critics especially taran Adarsh were writing hit pieces on Sushanth, you can give him the benefit of doubt.

He did do supporting roles in Raavan, kill dill and Happy Ending. Bollywood should know how to use his talents.

An incredible amount of research seems to have gone into this. That itself is a red flag for me. No one really cares...if they did...a big group of Indians (that shouldn't be too hard- since there's so many of us) could pull together and ask Cameron if he even knows of Govinda's existence. Maybe when he dies an AMA

Research on what? If you do really care, you could simply reach out to Cameron via twitter and ask him if he ever considered him for a part in the film. He might answe if you are lucky.