Bollywood actor Sudesh Berry is in the news again but this time for two very different reasons. Just a few days ago, he made headlines for praising the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He called PM Modi an avatar of Lord Vishnu and said he wants to wash the Prime Minister’s feet and drink that water. He also criticised the protest led by Cockroach Janta Party at Jantar Mantar. During the same interview, he said that he has never met Modi ji personally and doesn’t know him but he respects him just like people worship God without ever seeing him, and he wants someone to arrange his meeting with PM Modi.
Right after this statement went viral, an old story from his career has come back into the spotlight. The actor revealed that he was almost going to play the famous obsessive lover Rahul Mehra in Yash Chopra’s film Darr. That role later went to Shah Rukh Khan and changed Bollywood history forever.
This was long before his film Border made him popular. Speaking on the podcast, Sudesh Berry said he was offered the role in Darr and was almost finalised for it. He said that even his costumes for the film were ready. He also explained that the other male lead in the film was always supposed to be a bigger star. He said that first Rishi Kapoor was considered for that other role, then Aamir Khan was considered and finally Sunny Deol was cast.
According to Sudesh Berry, Yash Chopra later changed his mind about the casting. The director felt that if a new actor like him was cast opposite a big established star like Sunny Deol, it would affect the film’s impact.
Sudesh Berry further shared that towards the end of the film, there is a scene where his character punches the other hero. He said he heard that it looked like a bigger star was being beaten up by Sudesh Berry and that could be a reason for the change. He said he has not even watched the film till today, further adding that Yash Chopra was a very passionate filmmaker and that passion is what helped him make such great movies.
Finally, the role of Rahul Mehra went to Shah Rukh Khan who had already become popular with his film Deewana. Playing the obsessive lover in Darr became one of the most important performances of Shah Rukh’s career. The film which was released in 1993 also started Shah Rukh’s long and successful journey with Yash Chopra and Yash Raj Films.
After Darr, Shah Rukh went on to work with Yash Chopra and his banner on many superhit films like Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Dil To Pagal Hai, Mohabbatein, Veer-Zaara, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and Jab Tak Hai Jaan.
