Abhishek Chaubey’s Ishqiya didn’t just make waves—it significantly shaped the careers of Vidya Balan, Arshad Warsi, and Naseeruddin Shah. For Naseeruddin Shah, it marked a rare opportunity to showcase his versatility in a romantic role, while Vidya Balan's exceptional talent was placed in the spotlight, shifting the narrative away from her physical appearance to her acting prowess.
Arshad Warsi, on the other hand, finally secured a major hit after Golmaal Returns. However, the casting process for the film had some interesting twists—none of these actors were the initial choices for their roles.
In fact, before the cast was finalised, several actors, including Pankaj Tripathi, Irrfan Khan, Preity Zinta, and Lara Dutta, were considered for different roles. However, the chosen cast ultimately played a pivotal role in shaping the film’s success and its lasting influence on Indian cinema.
This film is not only remembered for its distinctive storyline but also for how it reshaped the careers of its cast members, serving as a turning point for each actor involved.
Arshad is now closely associated with the role of Babban, but originally, Chaubey had envisioned Irrfan for the part.
Although Irrfan showed interest, he felt that his character didn’t have enough depth in the final script. In an interview with Mashable India, Chaubey explained, “While I was writing Ishqiya, the film had a completely different casting. Pankaj ji was playing Khalujan (Shah’s role in the film) and Irrfan was playing Babban. At various points Lara Dutta was approached but Preity Zinta had read the earlier draft and had liked it a lot and she was on board."
Abhishek discovered that Preity had exited the project only after he had finalised the script.
The same situation occurred with Irrfan. Chaubey recalled meeting him at a hotel in New York, where they discussed the revised script. “Irrfan heard the new version of the film and he sensed that this version isn’t in favour of his character. This was the first time I sensed that Irrfan won’t do my film. While wonderful things happened on the script, terrible things happened behind the scenes," he shared.
Irrfan’s decision to turn down Ishqiya strained his long-standing friendship with Vishal Bhardwaj, who co-wrote the film alongside Abhishek Chaubey, Gulzar, and others.
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Vishal admitted that he was so hurt by Irrfan’s decision that he didn’t speak to him for years. The situation was made worse by the fact that Vishal had already let go of a top actress who had refused to work with Irrfan. Despite this, he chose to stick with Irrfan, only for Irrfan to later back out of the project.
Vishal shared in an interview, “We had said no to a big actress for Ishqiya because she had refused to work with Irrfan as he wasn’t a commercial actor. I got very angry with him and didn’t speak to him for 2-3 years. I didn’t pick up his calls."
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