Nawazuddin Siddiqui replaced a Bollywood actor in 'Raees'? Know more lesser-known facts

Nawazuddin Siddiqui starrer Raees is the only movie of Nawaz where he played a cop. The action-crime drama is partly based on a real-life event. Raees is directed by Rahul Dholakia and produced by Gauri Khan, Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar. It features Shah Rukh Khan, Mahira Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in pivotal roles.

In Raees, Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays a cop from Gujurat who tries to catch Shah Rukh Khan, who is an illegal alcohol dealer. Check out interesting trivia and lesser-known facts about Raees. 

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Trivia about Raees :

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• The film was rumoured to be inspired by the life of Gujarat based gangster, Abdul Latif.
• Originally, Nawzuddin Siddiqui's role was allotted to Farhan Akhtar. But he opted out of the film and approached Fardeen Khan to sign the film. However, Fardeen declined because he was taking a break from acting and would only return in home production. And this is how the role was signed by Nawazuddin Siddiqui. 
• Raees is a film set in the state of Gujarat and the costumes were all designed with Gujarati influence. 
• The crime drama flick is the debut film of Mahira Khan in Bollywood.
• Raees marked Nawazuddin Siddiqui's completion of working with all three Khans.  

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• According to IMDB, this was the fourth instance where Sunny Leone plays a character called Laila. 
• Set in Gujrathi setup, the film was shot in Mumbai. 
• According to IMDB reports, Nawazuddin Siddiqui starrer is banned in Pakistan due to its 'objectionable content' by Central Board of Film Censors, the regulatory body and censorship board of Pakistan.
• The film went under a lot of political controversies. In 2016, due to military tensions between Pakistan and India, various Pakistani artists were banned from working in India. There was similar pressure on the makers of Raees to replace Pakistani actor Mahira Khan. However, Farhan Akhtar being the producer of the film refused to do so and the female lead remained the same.
• The film was originally supposed to release on Eid 2016, however, the release date was postponed to January 25, 2017.

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