Onir’s Shab was originally written for Raveena Tandon and Sanjay Suri : Bollywood News

Being one of Onir's most ambitious film, Shab seems to have a lot more of sentimental value for the filmmaker. For the past few months, Onir has been constantly hunting for the lead pair of this film but it was only recently that the director cum producer revealed that the script of Shab was originally written for Raveena Tandon and Sanjay Suri.

Years ago, in 2001, Raveena Tandon and Sanjay Suri had acted in the Kalpana Lajmi directorial Daman, a film that focused on marital rape. Onir recently revealed that it was during the shoot of this film that he had decided to cast the two of them as leads. Reminiscing those days, Onir says, "The original name of Shab was Kaash. It was the first script I wrote (2001) after I met Sanjay Suri and Raveena Tandon at the sets of Daman in 2000. Finally the film is now happening after 13 years."

Onir’s Shab was originally written for Raveena Tandon and Sanjay Suri

Though the script was written for them, the lead cast of the film has been changed since it required a younger star cast. However, Onir is happy that Raveena and Sanjay are still doing the film. He added, "It is perhaps the destiny of the film that Raveena and Sanjay (though in different roles) are doing the film. Sanjay Suri does a cameo as her husband. The roles they were supposed to do are now being played by new comer Ashish Bisht and Bengali actress Arpita Chatterjee."

Initially the role of Raveena Tandon was offered to Sangeeta Bijlani since this former actress was all set for her second innings in Bollywood. However, it seems that the dates did not work out and later, Raveena Tandon was approached for the same. Raveena Tandon will now play the role of a charming socialite in Shab.