Tag Archives: Happy Birthday

Referring to the uncertainties of the business and its ability to surprise even veteran players, William Goldman, the Oscar- winning screenwriter of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, had once famously said: “In Hollywood, no one knows anything.” This is true of Bollywood as well.

The success of Kai Po Che has reinforced the fact that even successful stars and established producers can be wrong in their assessment of a script’s potential. Director Abhishek Kapoor is being lauded for his decision to cast non-stars as his leads, but few are aware that he had, in fact, approached big actors for the film before having to settle for a relatively unknown ensemble.

According to industry sources, Imran Khan, Shahid Kapoor and Ranbir Kapoor were all presented with the script. But each of them is believed to have separately said ‘no’ to Abhishek on the grounds that the story didn’t convince them. Ranbir, in particular, who has displayed a knack for picking quality projects so far, not only turned down the film, but also allegedly told Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani that he was “surprised” they were thinking of producing the movie (Abhishek was originally developing the project for Excel Entertainment).

It is hard to tell how much Farhan and Ritesh were influenced by Ranbir’s feelings when they finally decided to pass on Kai Po Che.