1. Shilpa Shetty was interested in ramp modeling as a teenager. After passing 10th standard, she built her portfolio (photographs). She went to an audition but got rejected because she was considered short and was told to lose weight. The photographs that she had left at the audition were noticed by a filmmaker Dilip Nair, who later cast Shilpa in his film. That film got shelved but opened doors for her. She was cast in Baazigar (1993), and became a star.
2. Anil Kapoor’s wish was to become a film producer and his elder brother Boney Kapoor’s to become an actor, but the opposite happened instead, Anil became an actor and Boney a producer.
3. Juhi Chawla and Shahrukh Khan worked together for the first time in Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman (1992). By then, Juhi was an established actress with a Filmfare award win + 3 nominations. Shahrukh was a new-comer and Juhi had absolutely no clue who he was. Vivek Vaswani (co-producer and friend of Shahrukh) told her that Shahrukh looked just like Aamir Khan! and she should definitely work with him.
4. During school, Shahrukh was a part of a 5-member gang called C Gang, which was inspired by other ‘gangs’ trying to appear cool. C Gang even had a logo and identity cards.
5. Shahrukh was a sportsman before appearing on TV. Once he had got injured and was feeling low. Around that time, theater director Barry John was directing a play and looking for boys and girls. Shahrukh went for the audition and got selected. Barry John cast him as the main dancer and also assigned him a dialogue. Barry considered Shahrukh a good singer and dancer.
6. Abbas-Mustan revealed how Shilpa’s death scene was shot in Baazigar. The first choice was CGI, but Shilpa was willing to perform the stunt instead. She was suspended from a rope above a green screen and the background was added in post-production. Shilpa had completed the shot perfectly despite sustaining injuries.
7. D Ranganathan (Shahrukh’s friend from his theater days) revealed that once he and Shahrukh were returning from a play in a car. Due to security reasons, they were stopped by the police. A policeman had asked, “What’s in the trunk” and Shahrukh had replied, “2 AK-47 rifles and a dead body”.
8. Before they got married, Shahrukh had been to Mumbai (from Delhi) to look for Gauri. He took his friend Thomas with him and stayed at somebody’s flat. Both had to leave the flat early and spend a night at the railway station. Thomas revealed that Shahrukh had said at Marine Drive that he’d rule the city one day!
9. When Shahrukh was working for Barry John (helping him with stuff, not acting), former’s mother was checking a house, which was being shown by Kamal, the son-in-law of RK Kapoor (director of serial Fauji). She told Kamal that her son was an actor working for Barry John and he’d check the house after returning. That’s when Kamal suggested that his father-in-law was creating a TV serial (Fauji) and Shahrukh should meet him.
10. The maternal grandmother of Rani Mukherjee had wished for Rani’s mother Krishna to become an actress, but the latter wasn’t interested. This is one of the reasons why Rani was driven towards acting career by her mother.
11. Salim Khan was very keen to cast Rani. He had offered her a film when she was in 10th standard. Rani was a bit scared of being offered a film so early. It was only after 12th standard that she started considering acting.
12. There was absolutely no plan of casting Rani as Tina in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998). Director Karan Johar was willing to cast Twinkle Khanna for that role. He had met Twinkle, Aishwarya Rai, Raveena Tandon, and Karishma Kapoor, but none of them accepted the role. It was only then that Rani was roped in.
13. Rani’s first ever film was actually a Bengali romantic film called Biyer Phool (1996) which was produced, written and directed by her father Ram Mukherjee. It earned average to positive reviews from critics & audience.
14. Shilpa’s mother is an astrologer and had predicted her daughter’s fortune. She had told Shilpa’s father about the same but he wasn’t in favor of modeling or acting career. When Shilpa shared her desire to become a model, her father assumed that her’s mother might be right. He let Shilpa model but with one condition, she must complete her education.
15. Before Hema Malini’s birth, her mother was confident that she’d give birth to a girl. She even had decided to name her “Hema Malini” and predicted that Hema would become an excellent dancer.
16. Anil Kapoor had met Yash Chopra and begged for a role in Parampara (1993). Without knowing the role, he insisted Chopra let him in. Chopra finally signed him. But, Anil ran away before the shoot because the role was of the father of Aamir Khan and Saif Ali Khan. Vinod Khanna played the role.
17. In 1994, Shahrukh was listening to a qawwali at a Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan concert in London. He loved it and thought of using it in his film. All the rights were bought from NFA Khan and the preparation of a full song was going on. Before the idea could be floored, Akshay Kumar’s Mohra (1994) released with the same tune in the song “Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast”.
18. Ajay Devgn and Raveena Tandon worked together in Divya Shakti (1993) and started dating. Two years later, Karishma Kapoor (allegedly) dated Ajay, which made Raveena angry. In an interview, she claimed that Ajay had betrayed her. Ajay warned her not to spread lies. She accused Karishma of being insecure and snatching many roles from her. Then Ajay suggested Raveena get treated from a psychiatrist. This all ended when Raveena found a new attraction, Akshay Kumar.
19. Shambhu Nath had a dream, to see his son Sanjay Mishra becoming an entertainer. He sent Sanjay to NSD. Sanjay tried hard but could achieve more than average success. In the midst of all this, his father died. Sanjay was so traumatized that he decided never to continue acting career. He hid from the public view and started working at a small food stall. But, Rohit Shetty found him. Rohit encouraged Sanjay to return to films. That’s how Sanjay Mishra returned to the film industry.
20. Punjabi actor Veerendra was Dharmendra’s cousin. Veerendra had started his film career in the Punjabi film industry after seeing his cousin becoming a star in Hindi cinema. Within a decade, Veerendra achieved great success. He was shot dead in 1988. It is believed that other members of the Punjabi film industry were jealous of him and someone among them had contracted his killing.
Sources of Information: Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai & Suhana Safar With Annu Kapoor.
