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Back when Farhan Akhtar was piecing together the cast for his debut film
Dil Chahta Hai
, things weren’t going exactly as planned. Actor after actor turned him down, and it looked like his dream project might stall before it even started rolling. Then came Akshaye Khanna—his first “yes” and a much-needed glimmer of hope. At the time, Akshaye wasn’t supposed to play the brooding Sid; he was actually cast as the charming and cheeky Aakash—the role that would later become iconic in Aamir Khan’s hands.
As for Aamir? Farhan hadn’t even considered approaching him at first. “He’s never going to say yes,” he thought. But as options ran dry, he decided to take a shot. The twist? When they finally met, Farhan pitched Sid to Aamir... but Aamir had his own ideas—and a couple of game-changing conditions.Aamir’s Conditions: A Script Rewrite and a Role SwapFarhan described Akshaye as someone with incredible integrity and recalled how the actor immediately agreed to play Aakash when first approached. At that point, Farhan hadn’t even considered Aamir Khan for the film, assuming he wouldn’t be interested. But with limited options, he eventually decided to meet Aamir—more out of obligation than hope. To Farhan’s surprise, Aamir liked the script. However, before committing, he laid down two specific conditions.
Aamir was interested in the film but had a couple of conditions before signing on. Since the script was originally written in English, he wanted to see a Hindi version first to judge whether the humour would translate well. Additionally, he made it clear that if he did join the project, he preferred to play Aakash instead of Sid. Farhan quickly reworked the script in Hindi, and once Aamir approved it, a new challenge emerged—how to break the news to Akshaye, who had already committed to playing Aakash.Akshaye Khanna’s Gracious ResponseFarhan confided in Aamir about the dilemma, and Aamir seemed confident that Akshaye would understand. When Farhan approached Akshaye with the change, explaining that Aamir was eager to do the film but wanted to play Aakash, Akshaye responded with complete grace. He didn’t flinch at the role swap and simply said that he didn’t mind playing Sid—as long as he got to be part of the film. Farhan expressed his deep gratitude for Akshaye’s generosity and professionalism, saying he would always be indebted to him for being so gracious.Dil Chahta Hai also starred Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia and Preity Zinta.
English (US)