Karisma Kapoor ages like fine wine and she celebrates her 47th birthday today!
Kapoor has given us a number of big hits like Coolie No. 1, Dil Toh Pagal Hai and more. But she had also rejected 6 major Bollywood films!
1. Barsaat (1995)
Karisma Kapoor was cast as the female lead for Barsaat while Shekhar Kapur was made the director. However, Karisma had left the cast for unknown reasons and Shekhar was replaced by Rajkumar Santoshi as the director. Twinkle Khanna had then come on board as the lead actress.
2. Ishq (1997)
Kajol and Juhi Chawla gave us memorable characters in this movie but it was Karisma Kapoor who was supposed to be cast as one of the female leads. As per THIS report, Karisma apparently was to play Madhu Saxena, the role Juhi later on bagged.
3. Judaai (1997)
The late Sridevi and Urmila Matondkar’s performances were the highlights of this film. However, Urmila was not the first choice for this film. Yes, it was Karisma who was chosen to play that role first but she eventually declined.
4. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998)
Before Rani Mukherjee was cast, director Karan Johar had wanted to cast his best friend Twinkle Khanna opposite Shah Rukh Khan. Surprisingly, after Twinkle’s rejection, Johar had approached actresses like Urmila Matondkar, Tabu, Raveena Tandon and Karisma Kapoor. Karisma’s reason for the rejection remains uncovered to date.
5. Yeh Raaste Hain Pyar Ke (2001)
Director Deepak Shivdasani wanted to repeat Madhuri and Karisma’s pairing from Dil To Pagal Hai. However, Deepak spoke about Karisma Kapoor rejecting the role. He said, “I approached Karisma, but after an initial yes, she later said that she wanted to get married and opted out. Finally, it was Preity Zinta who stepped in.”
6. Aśoka (2001)
Shah Rukh Khan reportedly wanted to cast Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as the female lead – Kuarwaki, but the makers approached Karisma Kapoor for the same as they wanted a fresh pairing. The actress said no to the film for reasons still unknown. The role then went to Karisma’s younger sister Kareena.