Darr: Aamir Khan\’s rejection gave Shahrukh Khan his stardom

At a time when films are not remembered beyond their 100 days or so, we are remembering 25 years of Yash Chopra\’s Darr starring Shahrukh Khan, Juhi Chawla and Sunny Deol which was released on December 24, 1993. The film was milestone in both Shahrukh Khan and Juhi Chawla\’s career and in a way also helped Yash Raj banners in their journey. Darr remained in news for reasons other than the obvious much before its shooting began.

The film was first offered to Aamir Khan. In fact Khan had signed the Yash Chopra film and the trade was very excited as it was first collaboration between the king of romance Yash Chopra and Aamir Khan. It was also bringing back the hit pair of Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla after their not so hit outings post QSQT. The muhurat of the film was also performed with the cast.

But soon it was reported that Aamir Khan was out of the Yash Chopra film and Shahrukh Khan has replaced him. Shahrukh at that point had already done Baazigar in which he had played a negative role. There were many theories doing the rounds at to why Aamir left the film. One version was Aamir Khan insisted on a joint narration with Sunny Deol but Yash Chopra refused. Year later Sunny Deol also said something on similar lines. He did not stop there and called Yash Chopra a cheat and also turned down their offer to launch his son. Sunny Deol did not work with Yash Raj films and Shahrukh Khan after Darr.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huj9_8uV5y8&w=560&h=315]

The other theory was Yash Chopra did not like Aamir Khan asking too many questions and hence dropped him. Yash Chopra also said in an interview that Aamir Khan developed cold feet after the muhurat as he was playing a negative character for the first time. His family, fans and well wishers advised him against it and he finally said no.

Whatever be the reason, in the end it worked to Shahrukh Khan\’s advantage. As for Aamir Khan he did work with Yash Chopra and their venture Parampara was released the same year but failed to set the box office on fire. The film is best remembered for a couple of songs and Ramya\’s hot scenes with Vinod Khanna.

Coming back to Darr, I liked Juhi Chawla from her first film – Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. It was combination of everything – the music, story, how she spoke in the film and of course her pairing with Aamir Khan. So when Juhi Chawla did the itsy-bitsy role in Yash Chopra\’s Chandni I was disappointed. But soon there was news that Yash Chopra had offered her a role in his next film. Darr was supposed to be her big film as she was working with a big banner and Yash Chopra was known for presenting his actress in the most beautiful way.

Coming after the debacle of Lamhe, a lot was riding on Darr. Baazigar had released on November 12 and Shahrukh Khan was lauded for his role as Ajay Sharma. Darr was releasing exactly a month after but the story was completely different. Baazigar was still running in theaters when Darr was released. Soon Shahrukh Khan\’s character in Darr and his K..K..K…Kiran became popular and the next big star had arrived.

The music of the film is still loved specially Tu Hai Meri Kiran which incidentally is only playing in the background and we see Shahrukh Khan singing rather different version in the film. The other songs also go well with the story but I must add that I saw the film recently and I thought we could do away with couple of songs like Likha Hai Ye and Solah Button Meri Choli Main for a more enjoyable film.

Darr also has the unique distinction of being made into English in 1996 as Fear.