Music composer Amaal Mallik’s father Daboo Malik was the original hero of Sooraj Barjatya’s Maine Pyar Kiya (1989).
When Maine Pyaar Kiya released in 1989, it introduced audiences to a fresh face who would go on to rule Hindi cinema. Salman Khan, as the charming and innocent Prem, captured everyone’s hearts. His boy-next-door appeal, combined with the film’s soulful music and Sooraj Barjatya’s storytelling, turned him into an overnight star and marked the beginning of his journey as one of Bollywood’s biggest superstars.
But do you know that Salman Khan was not the first choice to play Prem? Recently in a chat with Filmfare, music composer Amaal Mallik revealed a little-known story about his father, Daboo Malik, who once came close to becoming the hero of Maine Pyaar Kiya.
Amaal shared that his father had already shot two schedules of the film. Sooraj Barjatya’s father had asked Daboo to start shooting and learn the process. Photoshoots were done, scenes were filmed, and things looked promising.
But one day, Daboo saw a young man with mullet hair at the Barjatya office. That man was Salman Khan. A security guard told Daboo that Salman was now the lead actor of Maine Pyaar Kiya. Daboo had been replaced without being informed.
Though the news was heartbreaking, Daboo accepted it quietly. Years later, while working with Sohail Khan, he told Salman about the incident. Amaal said, “He wasn’t told, he had shot and the cassette was made, but he accepted.”
Further, Amaal revealed that his father couldn’t even afford basic necessities when he was an infant. “I have seen him sitting in a chair – baffled, confused, thinking what to do next,” he recalled.
Cut to present, Amaal Mallik stands tall as one of Bollywood’s popular composers with hits like ‘Sooraj Dooba Hai’ (Roy), ‘Soch Na Sake’ (Airlift), ‘Kaun Tujhe’ (M.S Dhoni: The Untold Story), ‘Aashiq Surrender Hua’ (Badrinath Ki Dulhania) to his credit.
