A story doing the rounds claims Manoj Bajpayee and Irrfan Khan were both being considered for the role of Paresh Rawal’s henchman in Ram Gopal Varma’s 1997 dud Daud. Manoj finally got the role.
According to Manoj, Ramu agreed to meet Manoj for a minor role in Daud. But when he reached for the meeting, Irrfan and actor Vineet Kumar were already there for the same role. Manoj claims he managed to wrangle the role away from his two competitors.
However Ramu has a different take on what really happened. “No, Irrfan was never considered for Daud. I didn’t even know him when Daud was being made. I had seen Manoj in Shekhar Kapoor’s Bandit Queen and offered him the role in Daud.”
When did Ramu come to know Irrfan? “We were introduced long after Daud. We never worked together. I don’t know why! It’s just one of those things that never happened. I regret it now. We would have created a special magic together. I think he was an actor who could anything.”
Hansal Mehta who shares his birthday with Irrfan’s death anniversary also regrets not having worked with Irrfan. “I will always share this date with him for the rest of life. Every year on my birthday I will be reminded of his rude sudden and unforgivable going. We did not ever work together but shared a very warm camaraderie over the years. Shared many drunken nights with him talking about life and a lot of other shit.”
