Our favourite pastime during the school summer holidays was watching television (we’re talking about the 90s). And there were one actor’s films which always aired on TV, the Govinda film! No matter how they were, we’ve all enjoyed the films, especially the dance numbers. In a career spanning over 30 years, the actor has done around 165 films but has also turned down many.
Govinda, who was a guest for an episode of Aap Ki Adalat, revealed that Sanjay Leela Bhansali offered the role of Chunni Lal in Devdas which was eventually played by Jackie Shroff. But he did not take it up because it was a character role.
He shared:
I asked Sanjay aapko mere mein Chunni Lal kaha dikhta hai? I was a superstar at that time. Mujhe laga theek hai, aap top ke director ho, acchi baat hai, par aap mujhe character role kyu de rahe hai. Maine kaha ek kaam karna, Shah Rukh se kaho ki woh mujhe kahe. I can do the film for friendship but I won’t do it otherwise. I won’t do the film because you are a star or a top director. I love Shah Rukh a lot. We haven’t done a film together but he is a very nice person.
Besides Devdas, he also mentioned about rejecting Gadar (starring Sunny Deol and Ameesha Patel) and Chandni (starring Rishi Kapoor, Sridevi). Not only that, but he also spoke about being offered a role in Avatar. You can read about it here.
Govinda was last seen in Rangeela Raja, which was released this year in January.