MUMBAI: Rang De Basanti is among the best films made in Indian cinema.
Rang De Basanti is among the best films made in Indian cinema. It featured Aamir Khan, Siddharth, Atul Kulkarni, Soha Ali Khan, Sharman Joshi, Kunal Kapoor, R Madhavan, and others. It was also chosen as India's official entry for the Golden Globe Awards and the Academy Awards for the Best Foreign Language Film. Moreover, James Bond star Daniel Craig had auditioned for the film.
Director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra revealed that Daniel auditioned for the role of James McKinley in Rang De Basanti. However, it didn't work out because around that time, Daniel was also approached for the role of James Bond. In his autobiography 'The Stranger In The Mirror', Mehra revealed, "I remember vividly that one of the people who auditioned for the part of James McKinley, the young jailor who walks Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev to be hanged, was none other than current James Bond, Daniel Craig."
He continued, "Daniel Craig was my first choice but he requested if we could allow some time as he was also being considered to be the next James Bond. The rest, as they say, is history."
Mehra also revealed that the failure of Delhi-6 left him devastated. "I was going deeper and deeper into a dark hole. Unable to take it anymore, I drowned myself in alcohol. I wanted to drink myself to death - to sleep and never get up," he said.
The filmmaker further mentioned that his wife helped him see reason and six months later, he woke up and called the film's cinematographer Binod Pradhan. He told him about the original script, in which Abhishek's character is beaten to death as against the one that featured in the version released in theatres. The duo, along with his wife Bharathi, reworked the ending and submitted it to the Venice Film Festival.
Credits: SpotboyE
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