Musical chairs in casting in Bollywood: The films rejected by Sridevi and accepted by her

Much ado is made about casting in Bollywood - which has historically been a game of musical chairs. Sridevi herself wasn't always first choice for what eventually went on to become her most iconic films. Perhaps most famously, Harmesh Malhotra offered Jaya Prada Nagina first but she refused the film as she was petrified of snakes. Sridevi took over - and how!

There were rumours Dimple Kapadia was offered the remake of Moondram Pirai - which went on to become Sadma, with Sridevi, and a devastating classic was etched for all time. Chandni was famously meant to have Rekha first, but Yash Chopra dropped the idea by the time the film started production.  

Similarly, Sridevi famously left Beta as she was doing too many films with Anil Kapoor in the early '90s, Baazigar was supposed to have a double role of Sridevi opposite Shahrukh Khan but the producers thought the audience would never sympathise with anyone killing Sridevi so brutally on the big screen, so newcomers had to be brought in instaed. Lata Mangeshkar was a fan of Sridevi and wanted her to be the lead in Lekin... lekin Sridevi was too booked up and mostly out of the country in 1990-1991. Sridevi wasn't keen to play the helpless damsel in distress in Darr and had the wherewithal to say No to 'the' Yash Chopra. He couldn't get her to do a film with Madhuri Dixit either, despite it being a lucrative proposal. She easily said No to Subhash Ghai for a cameo in Yaadein, which in retrospect was a good idea. I don't have the strength to get into the discussion on why Sridevi said no to Baahubali; a topic done to death. 

Casting in Bollywood as a chess game makes for interesting theory, as moves made depending on who has the power and who is the pawn, always makes for interesting copy. Well, at least clickbait-y copy!