DYK Sanjay Leela Bhansali Offered Chunilal’s Role In Devdas To Manoj Bajpayee First?

Manoj Bajpayee has earned a name for himself in the entertainment business with his acting skills and memorable performances on television. The actor made his cinematic debut 30 years ago with Satya and has steadily progressed since then. Manoj stated that he had no regrets about turning down any project in his career and that no film he turned down has performed exceptionally well commercially except for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 2002 period drama Devdas. 

He stated that he backed out of the film because he had always wanted to play the titular part of Devdas. Manoj revealed SLB did offered him the role of Chunilal in the movie, which eventually went to Jackie Shroff.

Manoj Bajpayee on losing the role of Devdas

In a conversation with Sushant Sinha on YouTube, Manoj was asked about whether he had ever rejected a movie that went on to become a big hit, and the actor replied in negative. He said, “Yes, I was offered Jackie Shroff’s role in Devdas, but I immediately said no. I told Sanjay, ‘Sanjay, yaar, meri toh hamesha se ichchha thi Devdas karne ki (I always wanted to play Devdas). That film became a superhit, but I have regrets about letting it go. I’d wanted to play Devdas since my theatre days, ever since I’d watched Dilip Kumar’s film, or read the book. But I never felt bad.”

What is Devdas about?

Devdas was a notable romantic film directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. It follows the story of a rich man who is prohibited from marrying the woman he loves. When his family forces him to marry another woman, he starts consuming alcohol in order to stay away from the pain. Devdas was considered to be one of the most expensive Bollywood movies to be made during the time it was released. 

The film turned out to be a commercial success in India as well as abroad and also became one of the highest-grossing films of that year.  The film is based on a novel of the same name written by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. It was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002 and even received many accolades for the theme of the film as well as the actors' dance and performances in the movie.