Boney Kapoor wanted to make Ghajini with Salman Khan, but lost the rights: 'Madhu Mantena kept me dangling'

Boney Kapoor planned to remake Suriya's Ghajini in Hindi with Salman Khan in the lead, but Aamir Khan bagged the rights to it first.

Ghajini, the Hindi remake, is widely credited with bringing the south mass action template to Hindi cinema in the 21st century. Its success paved the way for similar remakes starring top actors, including Wanted, Rowdy Rathore, and Singham, leading to a decade of mass action dominating Hindi cinema. It also started a trend of Aamir Khan giving all-time blockbusters one after another. However, Ghajini was almost an entirely different film, with a different lead actor.

Ghajini starred Aamir Khan (left), but Boney Kapoor initially wanted to cast Salman Khan (right) in it.

Boney Kapoor on his Ghajini remake

Producer Boney Kapoor has revealed in a new interview that he wanted to remake Ghajini in Hindi in the mid-2000s with Salman Khan in the lead. Having watched the original Ghajini, starring Suriya, in 2006, he felt Salman would be a nice fit for it. “In the first half of Tere Naam, Salman sports long hair, but for the post-interval portions, when he is confined to an ashram for the mentally ill, he has shaved his head. I thought that with his chiselled physique and his hair pruned, he would be a perfect fit for Suriya's role in Ghajini,” Boney Kapoor told Rediff in a recent interview.

To procure the rights for the film, Boney approached the film’s makers, who told him that the remake rights were with Allu Aravind, who had distributed the film in Telugu. Boney recalled, “I reached out to Madhu Mantena, who was friends with Allu Aravind, for the purchase of rights. Madhu kept assuring me, 'Ho jayega (It will happen).' Meanwhile, Pradeep Rawat, who played the antagonist, showed the Tamil film to Aamir Khan. For almost six months, while he was debating over whether he wanted to do the Hindi remake of Ghajini, Madhu kept me dangling. When Aamir finally consented, Madhu Mantena and Allu Aravind decided to produce the film themselves, and I lost out.”

About Ghajini

Eventually, Ghajini starred Aamir, Asin, Jiah Khan, and Pradeep Rawat in the lead roles. Directed by AR Murugadoss, the film released on Christmas 2008, and became the first Indian film to earn ₹100 crore net domestically, starting the 100-crore club.