Imtiaz Ali, in a recent interview, shared that he was initially planning to make Highway with Sunny Deol as the lead.
Imtiaz Ali has many critically acclaimed movies to his credit. One of them is Randeep Hooda-Alia Bhatt’s 2014 road drama Highway. But do you guys know that the filmmaker had originally planned this film with Sunny Deol?
Ali made this interesting revelation in his recent chat with Lallantop. The director shared, “I was trying to make Highway with Sunny Deol. It was a very different film. It had revenge drama, which is the kind of films Sunny Deol does. That film would have also done well.”
He added, “I also tried to make Highway with Subhash Ghai. He told me that the film’s script resembles his 1983 film Hero. I have seen Hero 25 times so maybe that story is inside me.”
Randeep Hooda-Alia Bhatt starrer Highway told the tale of a young bride-to-be who rediscovers herself after she gets abducted by a local gangster a day prior her wedding.
In the same interview, Imtiaz Ali also shared that he had initially chosen Bobby Deol for Jab We Met.
The filmmaker said, “I was planning to make Jab We Met with Bobby Deol. When I was making this film, Bobby and I were very good friends. His family… they are very nice people. But, Socha Na Tha took five years to make and release. Meanwhile, I was trying to start a new film so Bobby was going to do Jab We Met. Then Socha Na Tha got over, but I still didn’t make the film for two years because I wanted Bobby to start it (Jab We Met).”
According to Imtiaz, Bobby kept delaying Jab We Met because he was getting offers from big directors.
“He kept postponing my film, but then a time came when I didn’t find it correct because a lot of time went by. Because I did Socha Na Tha for five years and I didn’t do a film for two years after that, so it was putting financial strain on me. Then I told Bobby, ‘Let’s not make this film. Let’s shake our hands and decide we will not do this film together because then our thing will be affected,” Ali recalled.
Eventually, Imtiaz Ali made Jab We Met with Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor Khan in 2007.
On the work front, Sunny Deol who is currently reeling in the success of Gadar 2, recently signed Aamir Khan’s next production Lahore 47. Bobby Deol, on the other hand, will next seen in Ranbir Kapoor’s upcoming revenge drama Animal.
