Abhishek Bachchan has revealed that he was initially offered a role in ‘Rang De Basanti’. He shared that he had to turn it down as he could not comprehend the narrative that was presented by director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra.
The actor made these comments at the Hindi Actors Roundtable on Galatta Plus. Abhishek did not reveal the role he was offered to do in the film. He shared, “That’s when I realised Rakeysh is the world's worst narrator. Just read his script, never get a narration from him. He will confuse you, which he did to me during ‘Rang De Basanti’. I didn't understand why are they cutting from time zone to time zone. It was called Painted Yellow in those days. I said, ‘Mujhe samajh nahi aayi, mujhe nahi karni’ (I didn't get it, I don't want to do it). Then he made ‘Rang De Basanti’.”
He also shared that Rakeysh Mehra had pitched the film to Amitabh Bachchan with the hope that it would be produced under ABCL.
The ‘Ghoomer’ actor was then seen in Mehra's subsequent film, 'Delhi-6'. “Next time he came for Delhi-6, I said, ‘Han, kar lo.’ (Ya, let's do it) I didn't even read the script,” he added.
Rang De Basanti (2006) became a hit film. It starred Aamir Khan, Kunal Kapoor, Siddharth, Sharman Joshi, Atul Kulkarni, Soha Ali Khan, Kirron Kher, Waheeda Rahman, Anupam Kher, and Om Puri among others.