The 2016 family drama Kapoor & Sons was directed by Shakun Batra and produced by Karan Johar. It follows two estranged brothers who return to their dysfunctional family after their grandfather suffers a cardiac arrest. These two brothers were played by Fawad Khan and Sidharth Malhotra. Before approaching the Pakistani actor, Karan had talked to six Bollywood stars including Hrithik Roshan, Saif Ali Khan, and Shahid Kapoor for playing the role of the elder brother Rahul Kapoor. All of them rejected it as Rahul is revealed to be a homosexual in the film's climax.
In an interview to DNA, the Kuch Kuch Hota Hai director opened up about the same as he shared, "I had offered Fawad’s part to six different actors and no one did it. No matter what reasons they gave, I felt they were afraid of playing a homosexual man on screen. Having said that, they had a reason and I didn’t judge them for it."
Former film critic Rajeev Masand openly named the five actors who refused Kapoor & Sons in his column for the Open magazine. He wrote, "As many as half a dozen actors are believed to have turned down the role of the elder brother in Shakun Batra’s recent hit Kapoor & Sons, before the makers approached Fawad Khan. Saif Ali Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, Shahid Kapoor and Aditya Roy Kapoor were all approached. While some explicitly admitted that they didn’t want to play a character that happens to be gay, others reportedly cited different excuses."
He further added, "Farhan, whom Shakun had assisted previously, said he loved the film but didn’t see himself playing the older sibling. Of the lot, the makers say he was the most professional and upfront about his reservations. When they approached Fawad with the part, the actor agreed almost immediately after reading the script. Refreshingly, he had no inhibitions about the character’s sexuality, and much later when there was talk that the studio wanted to keep that detail out of the film for its Pakistan release, Fawad insisted that they not develop cold feet at the last minute."
Made in Rs 28 crore, Kapoor & Sons went on to win the hearts of the audiences and critics. The dysfunctional family drama, which also starred Rishi Kapoor, Ratna Pathak Shah, Rajat Kapoor, and Alia Bhatt in the leading roles, became a blockbuster as it collected Rs 75 crore net in India and grossed Rs 148 crore worldwide.
Fawad Khan earned a lot of love and acclaim for his excellent performance, but it turned out to be his last Indian film as a lead. After the Uri attack in 2016, the Federation of West India Cine Employees (FWICE) imposed a shadow ban on Pakistani artistes in the Indian film industry. Though Fawad did appear in Karan Johar's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil later in the same year, it was just a special appearance. There have been recent reports that the Humsafar star will soon make his Bollywood comeback, but no official confirmation has been made as yet.
READ | Meet actor, who refused Karan Johar film, was 'blacklisted' from industry; then debuted in Rs 200-crore hit, is now...
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