When Kamal Haasan Wanted To Cast Dilip Kumar And Shah Rukh As Father-Son

It is no secret that the legendary Dilip Kumar shared a very warm relationship with Shah Rukh Khan. But did you know that Kamal Haasan almost managed to bring this duo on screen? And he almost succeeded too, until Dilip Saab backed out of the project. Reason? A sordid connection to his past. Read on to find out.

When Kamal Haasan Wanted To Cast Dilip Kumar And Shah Rukh As Father-Son

The mighty Dilip Kumar who would have been 101 years old today, December 11, came close to working with Shah Rukh Khan, whom both Dilip Saab and his wife Saira Banu treated as their son.
It was Kamal Haasan who offered to cast the two Khans (Dilip Kumar's real name is Mohammed Yusuf Khan) together in a remake of Thevar Magan, the Tamil classic featuring Tamil cinema’s Dilip Kumar, Sivaji Ganesan and Kamal Haasan, thereby foregoing the pleasure and honour of working with his idol.
Recalled Kamal Haasan, “I thought Dilip Saab was not comfortable with the Tamil-Brahmin ambience of the original. So I offered to turn the father and son’s characters to Pathans and cast Shah Rukh Khan as Dilip Saab’s son. But he still declined. He found the theme too violent. And he had sworn never to do violent films.”
The ultimate method actor who regaled audiences with his pitch-perfect performances in Bimal Roy’s Devdas, Nitin Bose’s Ganga Jumna and K Asif’s Mughal-E-Azam couldn’t bring himself to do violent roles and films.
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