Deepak Tijori Reveals Abbas-Mastan Went Behind His Back And Signed Shah Rukh Khan For 'Baazigar'
Actor Deepak Tijori recently revealed that 'Baazigar' was originally his idea, but Abbas Mastan went behind his back and signed Shah Rukh Khan.
'Baazigar' is one of the most loved movies of Shah Rukh Khan's career. The actor had played an anti-hero in the flick and one scene where he throws the character of Shilpa Shetty off the terrace is one of the most iconic scenes in Bollywood. However, actor Deepak Tijori has now revealed that it was his idea of remaking 'A Kiss Before Dying' into 'Baazigar', but director-duo Abbas Mastan went behind his back to sign Shah Rukh Khan.
“I had watched A Kiss Before Dying and I had narrated the whole script to Abbas-Mustan. They loved it. At that time I was doing good for myself and I said I want to play this bad guy because A Kiss Before Dying was about Matt Dillon being a bad guy,” Tijori said in an interview with Bollywood Hungama.
Deepak Tijori then revealed that after director-duo Abbas Mastan, he made producer Pahlaj Nihalani watch 'A Kiss Before Dying'. "He called me and said, ‘banaate hain ye film' and asked about the lead actress. I said we will have Pooja doing the double role, she will play both sisters. He had his own directors, but I said, ‘no I have Abbas-Mustan on board'," said Tijori.
Once Pahlaj Nihalani met Abbas-Mastan, there was a twist in the tale. After their meeting, Pahlaj ji called me and said, ‘Teri kahani mein twist hai'," recalled Nihalni.
Tijori also said that once he went to Nihalani's office, he was told that Abbas-Mastan have approached SRK for the film and they have gotten different producers on board. He also recalled how Nihalani offered to make the film with Tijori, with the aim to finish the movie before them.
“It was a very lucrative offer for an actor that I have a bigger producer, only the directors will be different," said Tijori.
Tijori also discussed the entire chain of events with his mentor who told him: "“Merko maloom hai ye role rocket hai (I know this is a great role).”
“When I met Abbas-Mustan, they told me, ‘Deepak ji galti ho gayi hai. We will compensate. We will do something together in the future," said Tijori.
'Baazigar' is a Indian crime thriller film and it released in theatres in 1993. It stars Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol in lead roles, while Raakhee, Shilpa Shetty, Dalip Tahil, Siddharth Ray, and Johnny Lever appear in supporting roles.
The film is about a young man seeking to avenge the fall of his family.
