20 Years of Dil Chahta Hai: “I wanted Akshaye Khanna to be Akash, Hrithik Roshan to be Sameer and Abhishek Bachchan to be Sid” – Farhan Akhtar

By Fenil Seta -

August 10, 2021 - 10:30 AM IST

Dil Chahta Hai, the iconic buddy film, starring Aamir Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Saif Ali Khan and Preity Zinta, completes 20 years today. The film was flawless in every way and each actor was apt for the part. Today, it’s difficult to imagine any other actor playing Akash (played by Aamir Khan), Sid (played by Akshaye Khanna) and Sameer (played by Saif Ali Khan). However, director, writer and producer Farhan Akhtar, while talking to Rajeev Masand in his audio show ‘Picture Ke Peeche’, revealed that the original cast was something else.

20 Years of Dil Chahta Hai: “I wanted Akshaye Khanna to be Akash, Hrithik Roshan to be Sameer and Abhishek Bachchan to be Sid” – Farhan Akhtar

Farhan said, "When I first wrote Dil Chahta Hai, the actors I wanted to cast were Akshaye Khanna, Hrithik Roshan and Abhishek Bachchan. They were the first three names I had in mind. They had just debuted and I felt that it was the right age for the characters. And Akshaye was the first person I ever met actually (for the film). He heard the draft and just immediately told me, 'I am on'. And I had met him for the role that Aamir eventually did. So I wanted him to play Akash, I wanted Hrithik to be Sameer and I wanted Abhishek to be Sid."

Farhan Akhtar continued, "When Akshaye said 'I am on', I was like, 'My God, filmmaking is so easy'! After all, the first actor I went to said yes and the other two boys I am going to meet (Hrithik Roshan and Abhishek Bachchan) are my friends. We have all grown up together and so it’s going to be amazing. But life had other plans!"

Farhan Akhtar then talked about the hardships he faced while getting actors for Dil Chahta Hai, "Every actor I met that was around and working at that time had reservations with the fact that Dil Chahta Hai was a three-hero film. Also, the film belonged to Akash. And what was popular in the late 90s was the love triangle. So everyone wanted to do a love triangle so that at least there was some (meat), even if you become the one who sacrifices his love. Some songs would belong to that actor...all that stuff was going on. Moreover, there's no action and there's nothing really going on in the film as such. So it was understandable that people were feeling iffy about it."

Farhan confessed, "I started to feel that the film is not going to be made. It was through this period I met Ritesh Sidhwani. He came on board and that gave me some confidence."

Thankfully, for him, he found a glimmer of hope, "I met Saif Ali Khan. He loved the script and asked me which other actor is doing the film. I told him that Akshaye is already on board and that I am going to meet Aamir Khan next. I had saved these names for the last as I felt that they would never do the film. Everybody had turned down. So I had no choice but to go to these people!"

Saif Ali Khan then put forward a condition, "He told me that if Aamir agrees to do the film, then even he'll do the film."

Interestingly, Farhan Akhtar met Aamir Khan 10 months after getting Saif and Akshaye interested to do the film. "I must give serious credit to Saif and Akshaye for their patience. They were not like 'Listen, we have not heard from you. Chal bye'! Even Preity decided to stick to the film."

Farhan Akhtar then goes slightly off track and explains how the bubbly actress was selected to play the role of Shalini, "Preity had come home when she had arrived in Mumbai to do an audition for Kya Kehna (2000; written by Farhan's mother Honey Irani). Even Akshaye Khanna was a part of the audition and it happened at our place. That was the first time I ever met her. She had asked me what I am working on and I told her that I have just started writing a script. She had not done a film then and she casually told me that if I ever make that film, she's going to do it." Farhan added, "I went to meet her after signing Akshaye Khanna. It was amazing that she remembered her promise and she said that she is on. I appreciate that tremendously."

Coming back to the main story, Farhan Akhtar narrated, "I finally met Aamir Khan. He read the English draft and asked for a Hindi version. That took a couple of months. He also said that he was not sure if I'll be able to direct it. I mean that's understandable."

Farhan Akhtar then revealed, "Aamir told me that 'I am doing this film, Sarfarosh (1999) followed by Mann (1999). And both the characters in these films are quite serious. I am looking at playing a light-hearted character. So are you okay if I play Akash's part?' I told him that I do not doubt that he'll be able to pull it off. But I said that I'll have to speak to Akshaye Khanna as he was the first guy I ever met and came on board."

So was Akshaye Khanna upset when asked to switch roles? To which Farhan replied, "I cannot tell you how much love I have for him in my heart for not even flinching when I told him. It's unbelievable." He further added, "I had kept Akshaye Khanna about the loop that I am talking to Aamir. When I requested him to play Sid, he said, 'Listen, I want to do the film. So I'll do it'."

Also Read: Aamir Khan had tried to convince Hrithik Roshan to sign for Rang De Basanti; Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra had met Shah Rukh Khan for the role of Flt Lt Ajay Rathod