The reincarnation drama Karan Arjun, directed and produced by Rakesh Roshan, is one of the biggest hits of the Hindi film industry in the 1990s. The film is based on two brothers Karan Singh and Arjun Singh, who are killed along with their father by their greedy uncle Thakur Durjan Singh, but are then reborn as Ajay and Vijay to seek their revenge.
The two superstars Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan played the dual roles of Karan Singh-Ajay and Arjun Singh-Vijay, respectively. But, Rakesh Roshan initially wanted to make the film with Ajay Devgn and Shah Rukh, and at one point, even Aamir Khan's name was being considered.
In an interview in 2020, Rakesh told Bollywood Hungama, "The original choice of actors was Shah Rukh Khan and Ajay Devgn. But they were not happy with their respective parts and wanted to switch. So Shah Rukh wanted to play Karan while Ajay desired to essay Arjun. However, I refused to do so. Hence, they both backed out of the film."
"I then approached Salman Khan and Aamir Khan and both jumped at the script. However, Aamir made it clear that he was shooting some movie at that point and that he can start only six months later. But I couldn’t have waited for so long. Meanwhile, Shah Rukh found out that Salman and Aamir have shown interest. This is when he came back to me. He said sorry and insisted that he wants to do the film. And his dates were available. So, I went to Aamir and explained him the situation. Also, I had worked with Shah Rukh before – you can say that I gave him a break in King Uncle. Aamir understood and this is how the male lead actors of the film were locked", the filmmaker concluded.
Amrish Puri played the main antagonist Thakur Durjan Singh, while Raakhee was seen as Karan and Arjun's mother Durga Singh, whose one-liner 'Mere Karan Arjun aayenge' got ingrained in the Bollywood pop culture. Kajol and Mamta Kulkarni played the two leading ladies paired opposite Shah Rukh and Salman, respectively.
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