The first cut of THIS 1996 blockbuster ran for 265 minutes, had lots of kissing, was turned down by Aishwarya Rai and Juhi Chawla

Starring Aamir Khan and Karisma Kapoor in the lead roles, Raja Hindustani is one of the biggest hits of the 1990s. Directed by Dharmesh Darshan, the film also featured Suresh Oberoi, Archana Puran Singh, Tiku Talsania, Mohnish Behl, Johnny Lever and Farida Jalal in key roles. Kunal Kemmu was also seen as a child actor.

The film became famous for the kissing scenes between Aamir Khan and Karisma Kapoor. The first cut of the film lasted 265 minutes, which is 4 hours and 25 minutes. Speaking about the same, director Dharmesh Darshan said that some crucial scenes were cut from the film. One of them involved an emotional Aamir Khan and claimed that Aamir could have won the National Film Award for Best Actor had this scene not been edited out of the film.

The filmmaker told Bollywood Hungama, “It was a brilliant 15-minute scene Aamir Khan he learns that the child is there. He enters the house and the child is not there as Karisma had taken him to see a doctor. he cries Archana Puran Singh, Pramod Moutho and Mohnish Bahl manage to beat him up, throw him out of the house and tell him that Karisma doesn’t want him. He did very, very well. That’s when Aamir Khan gets aggressive and kidnaps the boy. I went to meet Aamir Khan at Film City in the evening to inform him that the length was an issue and the producer wants it cut. He requested to hold, but I could not. Had this sequence remained, Aamir Khan might have won a National Award for his performance.”

before Karisma Kapoor was finalized as the lead, Raja Hindustani was offered to Juhi Chawla and Aishwarya Rai. Juhi turned down the film as she reportedly had some issues with Aamir at the time. Aishwarya had won the Miss World 1994 pageant and was unsure whether she would take up acting as a career. Speaking to Vogue, she had said: “I’m often cited as the person who blazed the trail for beauty pageants in films, but that wasn’t the case with me. I had at least four film offers (before pageants).I actually decided to take part in Miss India to get away from the film industry.If I had not taken part in Miss India, Raja Hindustani (1996) would have been my first film.

Made on a budget of Rs 5.75 crore, Raja Hindustani went on to collect Rs 76.34 crore worldwide and became the highest grossing film of 1996. One of the main reasons for its success was the band soundtrack by Nadeem Shravan with hits like Pardesi Pardesi and Pucho Zara Pucho. , Aaye Ho Meri Zindagi Mein and Kitna Pyaare Tujhe Rabne. The Aamir Khan and Karisma Kapoor starrer won five Filmfare Awards for Best Film, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Music Director and Best Male Playback Singer.

READ | Meet the actress whose debut film was a big flop, turned down blockbusters with Shah Rukh, Aamir, Akshay, still became a superstar

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