Who were the original choice for Race?

Abbas Mastaan’s Race has got a good response at the box office. Its star cast has been appreciated by the critics and audience as well. Not many know that Akshay Khanna, Anil Kapoor, Bipasha Basu and Sameera Reddy were not the original choice for Race.

It is believed that Abbas Mastaan was keen to cast Fardeen Khan to play Akshaye Khanna’s character. Fardeen was keen to play the role but had to opt out because the dates were clashing with Hey Babyy . Later the filmmakers approached John Abraham who refused to play negative role. Hence the role went to Abbas Mastan’s favorite actor Akshaye Khanna.

According to filmmakers Priyanka Chopra was the first choice to play Bipasha’s role. But Priyanka too opted out as she wasn’t very keen to play a negative role either. Interestingly Priyanka portrayed a negative character in Abbas Mastaan’s Aitaraz . Hence the directors had to approach Bipasha Basu who signed the film immediately after going through the narration.

Subsequently Mallika Sherawat was offered to play Mini a dumb investigating officer. But Mallika who wasn’t comfortable playing a dumb character refused to be a part of it. And her role went to Sameera Reddy.

Anil Kapoor too wasn’t the first choice for the part of the investigating officer. This role was first offered to Ajay Devgan who liked the script, but felt that the role will kill his strong intense image. Later filmmakers offered this role to Akshay Kumar but he declined the role because he didn’t want to play second fiddle to Saif Ali Khan. Later Anil Kapoor portrayed that role.