8 Years of Cocktail: How Imran Khan's Rejection Helped Saif Ali Khan Bag the Role
Saif Ali Khan was not the first choice to play Gautam Kapoor in Deepika Padukone - Diana Penty's Cocktail. The makers had in fact approached Imran Khan for the role but he rejected it for some reason.
Cocktail wasn't a movie ahead of its time and yet, it allowed us to explore human emotions like never before. While Deepika Padukone's Veronica continues to be one of our favourite characters, Diana Penty's Meera was and is a darling nonetheless. And Saif Ali Khan was certainly dapper as Gautam and today after 8 years of its release, we can't think of a name who could have played the character better than Khan. But hey, do you know Saif wasn't the first choice of director Homi Adajania? Diana Penty Looks Back at Her Bollywood Journey, Says ‘Each Film Has Taught Me Something New’.
The Angrezi Medium director had earlier approached Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na actor Imran Khan for the same role in Cocktail but he had his apprehensions. It was only after Imran rejected it, that the makers went to Saif Ali Khan for narration and he was in love with it. Fortunately, the actor had required dates and he willingly jumped on board. Rest as they say is history.
"Saif was not the first choice. Imran was supposed to do it but he was not sure if he wanted to do it at that point of time. As Saif is the producer, he was going through the scripts, he read it and loved it. So, it worked out pretty well and that is how he came on board," Adajania had earlier revealed in his conversation with IANS. Deepika Padukone and Diana Penty Met at Dinesh Vijan's Wedding Bash and We Hope They Danced Together on 'Tumhi Ho Bandhu'.
While Cocktail is hailed as a turning point in Deepika Padukone's filmy career, Diana Penty is equally thrilled to mark her debut with such an exciting project. The Parmanu actress earlier took to her Twitter account to celebrate #8YearsofCocktail. She tweeted saying, Where it all began... thank you #DineshVijan #HomiAdajania @deepikapadukone #SaifAliKhan @bomanirani #DimpleKapadia for giving me one of the best experiences of my life.
Check Out Her Tweet
For the ones who don't know, Deepika Padukone was the first name to come on board and she was given a choice to pick either Veronica or Meera. And since she had played a character similar to Meera in Love Aaj Kal, she decided to go with Veronica - a decision she'll always be proud of.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 13, 2020 02:04 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).