Sridevi introduces Nagarjuna to Khuda Gawah Producers: Southern Superstar replaces Sanjay Dutt

Excerpt from Filmfare magazine;

How Sridevi was instrumental in getting south superstar Nagarjuna into Khuda Gawah when Sanjay Dutt left the movie.

NAGARJUNA IN KHUDA GAWAH

The case over who'd replace Sanjay Dutt in Khuda Gawah is finally over, director Mukul Anand and producer Manoj Desai flew to Hyderabad to get popular South star Nagarjuna to sign on the dotted line. But not without a bit of drama, caused, as Mukul puts it, "by a certain camp which seems to be specialising in manipulations and cross-legging. A distributor was even persuaded to rush to Nagarjuna to tell him that Sanjay had not left the film, and that the impression was being created to con the young South star to sign a bit role." But when Mukul showed Sanjay Dutt's letter to Nagarjuna, he was convinced. But he still had some doubts about the role. "So I showed him parts of the film - including all the scenes shot with Sanjay," says Mukul, "and he (Nagarjuna) instantly agreed to do the film."



Adds Mukul, "The canard spread by Sunjay that his role was being sacrificed to boost Bachchan's is totally unfounded. It's a very interesting role, or else a choosy guy like Nagarjuna, who has turned down dozens of others after Shiva, wouldn't have accepted it. He isn't the kind who'd accept just any role. He has ample resources to do only those films which he wants to."


The meeting ground for the deal was created by Sridevi, who is working in a Telugu film with Nagarjuna. "She had spoken to him about the film, and she initiated a meeting between us. She introduced me to Nag and withdrew from the scene," says Mukul. Sridevi, who plays a double role in Khuda Gawah, seems to be immensely pleased with the manner in which the film has shaped, and is very keen on its early completion.

Many second-line actors and promising newcomers had been making a beeline for the role after Sunjay Dutt's abrupt decision to quit the film after shooting for it. The actor Mukul was keen on for the role was Jackie Shroff, but Jackie wanted to avoid walking into a controversial situation.

Khuda Gawah now moves into the final spell with a fairly long schedule in Bombay in early August, followed by one in Nepal. it's slated for release in the early part of 1992. It would be Bachchan's last film before he takes a long break.

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MOVIE magazine excerpt: 

Mukul Anand: "During the making of Khuda Gawah, the role we offered Sunju was the best that could be offered to him at that stage of his career. At that time he was dying to do the role. Even Nagarjuna was very happy with the role. The role had not been cut further. If we had cut Sunju's role, we would have to cut Sridevi's role as well. Sunju's absence in the film was a loss for us both. However, Sunju and I don't talk about all this now. 

MOVIE: Ajay Devgan insists that he was the first choice to replace Sunjay in Khuda Gawah until certain strings were pulled in favour of Nagarjuna. Is it true? 

Mukul Anand: Ajay Devgan was considered as a replacement for Sunjay. A lot of actors like Rahul Roy and Akshay Kumar were also looked into. But since the role needed somebody with a set image, Nagarjuna was taken. He was in his own right a star and very keen to work with me.