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Sunny Deol right now is basking in the success of his film Gadar 2, which has seen an outrageous response at the box office with phenomenal numbers. He turned a national hero with the first part of the film as well, even though he has been one of the most iconic stars of the 80s, and his journey through the Hindi film industry has been nothing short of remarkable. He has seen his fair share of ups and downs, but he has always managed to rise like a phoenix.
Deol made his debut in the 1983 film Betaab opposite Amrita Singh. The film was a huge success, and it launched Deol’s career. He went on to star in a string of hit films in the 80s, including Arjun, Damini, and Ghayal. However, do you know that apart from these terrific films, there has been a long list of rejections as well?
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The Gadar actor, who has ruled the industry on his terms, never shied away from saying no. He has been very particular about his choices and that is why he has rejected many films which were later opted by superstars. However, except one, none of these films worked wonders at the box office, and it seems like Sunny Deol’s instinct worked wonders as he rejected these scripts not messing up with his filmography and their verdicts.
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Interestingly most of the films where Sunny Deol was the first choice were later done by either Shah Rukh Khan or Akshay Kumar – both of whom do not share a cordial vibe with him. Sunny was the first choice for Deewana, which was Shah Rukh Khan‘s debut. However, reports suggest that after he rejected the film, his father Dharmendra, suggested SRK’s name to Guddu Dhanoa. Other films which Sunny Deol rejected – that were taken by SRK, were Rakesh Roshan’s Koyla & Mukul Anand’s Trimurti. Apart from Deewana’s success, the other two were duds.
Another star, who had a lot of films in his kitty thanks to Sunny Paaji, was Akshay Kumar! Sunny Deol was offered Jaanwar, Kesari & the recently released Samrat Prithviraj. In fact, Chandra Prakash Dwivedi in an interview admitted that he wrote the film keeping Sunny Deol in mind. However, owing to Sunny’s history with YRF, the film went to Akshay Kumar. Kesari was a profitable film, but none of the films were box office hits.
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The Indian actor was also the first choice for Amitabh Bachchan’s Lal Badshah, which was a box office disaster. He was offered Pukar, which later earned critical acclaim, led by Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit. He was even offered a part in Lajja which was later done by Ajay Devgn. However, the actor maintains that he was not offered the film.
All of the above films except Deewana did not earn a hit status at the Box Office. Akshay Kumar’s Kesari and Jaanwar were not flops but managed to recover their investments.
For more such Bollywood trivia, stay tuned to Koimoi.
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