Fawad Khan accepted the role rejected by Hrithik Roshan, Saif Ali Khan, Shahid Kapoor; film became blockbuster, earned Rs…

Fawad Khan in Kapoor & Sons

After the Pahalgam terror attack and the consequent Operation Sindoor carried out by the Indian Armed Forces against the terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, Fawad Khan called India’s retaliation as “shameful attack.” The Pakistani actor was set to make his Bollywood comeback with the romantic comedy Abir Gulaal opposite Vaani Kapoor, but now after Fawad and other Pakistan actors including Hania Aamir, Mahira Khan, and others’ comments on Operation Sindoor, it’s highly unlikely that we would see an actor from across the border in an Indian film in the coming years. So, here’s the time when we go back to Fawad Khan’s best Bollywood performance in the 2016 dysfunctional family drama Kapoor & Sons directed by Shakun Batra and produced by Karan Johar.

The Pakistani actor played Rahul Kapoor in the film, that also starred Siddharth Malhotra, Rishi Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Ratna Pathak Shah, and Rajat Kapoor in the lead roles. The character of Rahul Kapoor is revealed to be a homosexual in the film’s climax and hence, multiple Bollywood actors had refused to play the same. Karan Johar revealed the same in an interview to DNA when he said, “I had offered Fawad’s part to six different actors and no one did it. No matter what reasons they gave, I felt they were afraid of playing a homosexual man on screen. Having said that, they had a reason and I didn’t judge them for it.”

Former film critic Rajeev Masand openly named the five actors who refused Kapoor & Sons in his column for the Open magazine. He wrote, “As many as half a dozen actors are believed to have turned down the role of the elder brother in Shakun Batra’s recent hit Kapoor & Sons, before the makers approached Fawad Khan. Saif Ali Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, Shahid Kapoor and Aditya Roy Kapoor were all approached. While some explicitly admitted that they didn’t want to play a character that happens to be gay, others reportedly cited different excuses.”

“Farhan, whom Shakun had assisted previously, said he loved the film but didn’t see himself playing the older sibling. Of the lot, the makers say he was the most professional and upfront about his reservations. When they approached Fawad with the part, the actor agreed almost immediately after reading the script. Refreshingly, he had no inhibitions about the character’s sexuality, and much later when there was talk that the studio wanted to keep that detail out of the film for its Pakistan release, Fawad insisted that they not develop cold feet at the last minute”, Rajeev concluded.

Made in Rs 28 crore, Kapoor & Sons went on to win the hearts of the audiences and critics. The Shakun Batra directorial became a blockbuster at the box office it earned Rs 75 crore net in India and grossed Rs 148 crore worldwide. The other two Indian films that Fawad Khan has been a part of include the 2014 romantic comedy Khoobsurat opposite Sonam Kapoor and the 2016 romantic drama Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, which was directed by Karan Johar himself and also featured Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, and Aishwarya Rai.

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