Hema Malini rejected this film, director created a Sholay-like film with Hema’s lookalike, Dharmendra was stunned after…, film name is…

The role of Vijay Kumar in Shaan was originally written for Dharmendra, while the character of Renu was meant for Hema Malini. However, they got replaced by...

After the massive success of the evergreen classic Sholay in 1975, director Ramesh Sippy followed it up with another blockbuster action-thriller, Shaan, released in 1980. The film featured a star-studded cast including Sunil Dutt, Shashi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha, Parveen Babi, Rakhi Gulzar, and Bindya Goswami. Interestingly, the director had initially planned to cast the Sholay stars, Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, and Sanjeev Kumar, for Shaan. However, this dream cast never came to a success. Read on to find more details.

According to an IMDb report, the role of Vijay Kumar in Shaan was originally written for Dharmendra, while the character of Renu was meant for Hema Malini. However, due to a dispute with the director, both Dharmendra and Hema Malini were eventually replaced. Amitabh Bachchan, who was originally slated to play Ravi Kumar, took over Dharmendra’s role of Vijay Kumar. Shashi Kapoor stepped in to portray Ravi Kumar, winning hearts with his stellar performance. Bindya Goswami, a lookalike of Hema Malini, was cast as Renu opposite Shashi Kapoor.

Before this change, Hema Malini had expressed her intent to stay on in the film despite Dharmendra’s exit. However, as rumours reached Ramesh Sippy that Hema Malini was considering leaving the film, he advised her not to force herself into the role. Eventually, this led to Bindya Goswami being cast, despite the criticism that she was too young to be paired opposite Shashi Kapoor.

After Hema Malini’s departure, Ramesh Sippy explored other top actresses like Rekha, Reena Roy, Zeenat Aman, Moushumi Chatterjee, and Neetu Singh for the role. However, when none of them worked out, Bindya Goswami was signed. This decision left Dharmendra surprised, as he had not expected Ramesh Sippy to make such a move. Despite some initial average box office performance, Shaan went on to become a long-running success when it was re-released.