Aishwarya Rai first choice for Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham

https://www.news18.com/movies/not-kajol-aishwarya-rai-was-karan-johars-1st-choice-for-kabhi-khushi-kabhie-gham-i-felt-bad-7979791.html

may be the role played by rani.

Originally posted by: snatch

may be the role played by rani.

In the article posted above, Karan says Aishwarya was his choice for Anjali. He went to Kajol as a formality, expecting her to say no because of her recent marriage and wanting to start a family, but was surprised she said yes.

Karan continued, “But I don’t know what changed, Kajol actually wanted to do the film. So, I did not go to meet Aishwarya. But Aishwarya was my choice and after that, the series of ‘missing’ started.”

Aish was way too hot in early 2000s to play Anjali..she could have played Poo easily..

Feels like Aishwarya was the first choice for many SRK movies back then (Chalte Chalte, K3G, DTPH, Veer zaara etc. )

That pairing had more potential but then Kajol and SRK were perfect together in K3G and at their peak chemistry

Originally posted by: Journey95

Feels like Aishwarya was the first choice for many SRK movies back then (Chalte Chalte, K3G, DTPH, Veer zaara etc. )

That pairing had more potential but then Kajol and SRK were perfect together in K3G and at their peak chemistry

Yes and no. Some Aish films were not offered to her first. Mohabbatein was first offered to Kajol who refused (I think the role was too small for her). Veer-Zaara was also offered to Kajol but she said no to that. If I'm correct, Devdas was also originally offered to Kajol as Bhansali wanted to work with her but she said no for whatever reason. I'm not 100% sure on Devdas though but I think I remember reading that Kajol was the first choice. So it looks like the hierarchy was really Kajol first and then all the films she rejected went to Aishwarya but many of those films Aish couldn't do for a myraid of reasons.

One role that initially went to Aish that had nothing to do with Kajol was Darr. Yash Chopra wanted Aish in the role originally. I'm not sure if this was before or after Sridevi rejected the role.

I had no idea about Aish being asked to do Dil To Pagal Hai. I was under the impression that Juhi was the first choice but refused to play second fiddle to Madhuri. Then Urmila was supposed to do it but she and Karishma basically swapped roles since Karishma was meant to play the supporting role in Judaai originally.

Aish was asked to do Rani's role in KKHH though but she refused that and KJo said that was the first of many attempts he tried to work with her, all of which failed until Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. However about a dozen actresses were asked to play Tina in KKHH but most everyone refused since they didn't want to play second fiddle to Kajol and probably also knew the public would not accept anyone stepping in between SRK and Kajol.

Oh God .. imagine aish trying to pull off 'tussi bade mazakiya ho'

Koi zaroorat nahi he. Jo casting bana wahi sahi he. Anjali and poo were perfectly done by kajol and kareena and thankfully no one else.

Aish would have been a MIIINUSS!!!

Originally posted by: Journey95

Feels like Aishwarya was the first choice for many SRK movies back then (Chalte Chalte, K3G, DTPH, Veer zaara etc. )

That pairing had more potential but then Kajol and SRK were perfect together in K3G and at their peak chemistry

And actually, before Aish and Rani, Chalte Chalte was originally intended for Ameesha Patel. She's confirmed this a few times. She was the first choice but the film was rejected for her by her manager without even letting her know! She had no idea she was SRK's first choice until SRK himself informed her that she had rejected his film.

https://www.ndtv.com/entertainment/this-is-why-ameesha-patel-didn-t-work-with-shah-rukh-khan-4361114

“Kuch films mujhe pata bhi nahi thi ki mere paas aayi thi. Chalte Chalte was one such film. In fact, jab mai Humraaz ki dubbing kar rahi thi, aur Shah Rukh [Khan] apni Chalte Chalte ki dubbing kar rahe the. Same studio but in a different room, obviously. Aur we bumped into each other and we hugged each other. And inhone kaha ki come Ameesha let me show you a little bit of the film you rejected. I am like ‘I have rejected?' Mujhe pata hi nhi tha that the film was offered to me. So kabhi kabhar people who were managing you also played. [There were some films I didn't even know were offered to me. In fact when I was dubbing for Humraaz, Shah Rukh Khan was also dubbing in the same studio for Chalte Chalte. So when we bumped into each other, he said, ‘Ameesha let me show you a little bit of the film you rejected. I was like ‘I have rejected?' So back in time, a lot of times people who were managing you also played.]”

The same article also reveals that Bhansali wanted to work with Ameesha for some projects but her manager did not like Bhansali and thus refused to let Ameesha accept any Bhansali projects. What a horrible manager to reject Bhansali films and Chalte Chalte. Ameesha has said her biggest regret was not working with SRK.

Tere Naam and Munna Bhai MBBS were two other films offered to Ameesha but she couldn't commit to them as she was signed onto other films and the dates overlapped.

Aamir Khan's Mangal Pandey was offered to Aish firstly for Amisha's role.

Talking about Darr, Sridevi wanted to play Psycho/villain's (SRK's role) role in it. but Yash Chopra denied it So, she rejected Darr.