MUMBAI: Choreographer and filmmaker Farah Khan once revealed that she turned down a lucrative offer from a producer who was willing to pay her Rs. 10 crore to cast his son in “Happy New Year.”
In a past interview with comedian and writer Zakir Khan, Farah recalled the incident where she chose to cast Vivaan Shah, the son of Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah, instead of the producer’s son.
She shared, “You won’t believe it, but during Happy New Year, a producer offered me Rs 10 crore to cast his son. Being a ‘Jhansi Ki Rani, ’ I said, ‘I will never do this.’ I won’t do injustice to the film. What if Shah Rukh gets to know that I took Rs 10 crore to cast him in the film? Never, I won’t do that. I cast Vivaan Shah because I thought he was the person who fit perfectly for the character and the film.”
Farah Khan’s film “Happy New Year” starred Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Abhishek Bachchan, Sonu Sood, Vivaan Shah, and Boman Irani. The action-comedy, which was Farah’s last film as a director, became one of the highest-grossing films of the year.
Khan has directed four films in her career, with three, “Main Hoon Na”, “Om Shanti Om”, and “Happy New Year”, featuring Shah Rukh Khan in the lead. Notably, all three have become some of the biggest hits of both Farah and SRK's careers.
Earlier, on SRK’s 59th birthday, Farah Khan shared a series of old pictures with the actor and wrote, “Tons of happy memories and lots more to make.” In the caption, she added, “Some throwback pics... tons of happy memories & lots more to make.. happy birthday SHAH @iamsrk.”
Meanwhile, Farah Khan is collaborating with Salman Khan to create an unforgettable high-energy track for the actor’s upcoming movie, “Sikandar.”