Shah Rukh Khan and Sushmita Sen's Main Hoon Naa was a commercial and critical success. The film's songs were also a hit. In the movie, Zayed Khan essayed the role of Shah Rukh Khan's brother, however, do you know that he was not the first choice of Farah Khan for the film?
Well yes, recently, Farah Khan revealed in an interview about the challenges she had to face during the casting of Main Hoon Naa and shared that Zayed Khan came on board at the last moment and that he was not the first choice to play Laxman in the movie and instead of him the movie was first offered to Hrithik Roshan.
Farah Khan revealed the reason behind Hrithik Roshan declining the offer for Main Hoon Naa and said in an interview with Mashable, "I always face casting challenge in my films except for Shah Rukh Khan. He always agrees to do my films. During Main Hoon Na, we didn’t have casting directors and me and my assistants used to cast people. Except for Shah Rukh and Sushmita Sen, whom I had told long ago that I will cast her in my film, we had no confirmed actors. Zayed Khan came on board at the last minute. The first choice for Zayed’s role was Hrithik Roshan. This was before Hrithik’s debut film Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai had been released. After the film was released, Hrithik became Hrithik and he left."
She further revealed that she then offered the role to Sohail Khan and others and said, "I also approached Abhishek Bachchan for Zayed’s role but that didn’t work out. Then I approached Sohail Khan and that too didn’t work out. Just one or two months before the shooting of Main Hoon Na, I went to see Zayed’s film in the theatre. He had a good smile and I thought he was charming. Amrita Rao came on board just 15 days before the film’s shooting. I initially wanted to cast Ayesha Takia for Amrita’s role, but then Imtiaz Ali took her for Socha Na Tha. She told me that she is going for five days, but she didn’t come back for five weeks. Then I started looking for another female lead."
Helmed by Farah Khan, Main Hoon Naa starred Shah Rukh Khan, Sushmita Sen, Amrita Rao, Zayed Khan, and Suniel Shetty along with others in key roles. The film collected Rs 70.4 crore worldwide and was declared a hit.
