Saif Ali Khan's portrayal of Langda Tyagi in the 2006 film Omkara earned him widespread acclaim, but few know that the role was initially offered to Aamir Khan. In a recent interview with Film Companion, Saif disclosed that director Vishal Bhardwaj had considered Aamir for the role, but the collaboration never materialised due to creative differences.

Why was Aamir dropped from Omkara?

According to Saif, Vishal had revealed to him the details of his conversation with Aamir regarding the film. "He was asking me a lot of questions and he wanted to alter things," Vishal had told Saif, highlighting Aamir's meticulous approach to his roles and his penchant for being deeply involved in his projects. However, Vishal ultimately decided not to proceed with Aamir, citing concerns about the direction in which the changes might lead the film.

Saif added, “Aamir must have just had a discussion with him but Vishal apparently said he will call him back and then called me instead. He just said it is not going to work because he wasn’t sure it was going to go the way Aamir wanted. It was not something Vishal was comfortable with following.”

What more do we know about Omkara?

Although Aamir's involvement did not materialise, Omkara went on to become a critical and commercial success. Based on Shakespeare's Othello, the film garnered three National Awards and featured an ensemble cast including Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Vivek Oberoi, Bipasha Basu, Naseeruddin Shah, and Deepak Dobriyal.

Omkara marked the second instalment in Vishal Bhardwaj's trilogy of films based on Shakespearean plays, preceded by Maqbool and followed by Haider. This was not the only time Vishal wished to collaborate with Aamir, there was another film titled Mr Mehta and Mrs Singh which also couldn’t materialise with Aamir on board.