Govinda and Rekha were the first choice for Chandni, though Anil Kapoor was just considered for the same. The title, “Chandni” itself was the screen-name of Rekha in the film, “Silsila”. However Rekha refused the film. Coming back to the question.
Yash Chopra was going through a bad financial phase as his films were not clicking at that time. He wanted to make a present day romantic love story. Govinda was an emerging star at that time and Chopra narrated the story to Govinda.
Govinda straightaway rejected it as the film had a portion where the hero falls from a helicopter and has an accident due to which both his legs are damaged.
Govinda was not comfortable to play the part where he is disabled and is on a wheelchair. He did not want to play the role of a lame person.
Interestingly, it was a crucial part of the storyline and could not be changed. So he turned down the offer making way for Rishi Kapoor to romance Sridevi.
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