Farah Khan opened up about the making of her directorial debut, Main Hoon Na, and said that she made a conscious decision to not have a Muslim antagonist. She made this revelation on Audible Suno’s podcast Picture Ke Peeche.
According to a press release, Farah said that she did not want the villain of her film to be a Muslim. She also chose Khan as the name of the antagonist’s right-hand man, who realises he was being misled all along and ends up choosing his country over terrorism.
Suniel Shetty played the villain, a former army officer-turned-militant named Raghavan, in Main Hoon Na. Shah Rukh Khan was seen as the hero, Major Ram Prasad Sharma, who foils his plans to derail a peaceful operation to strengthen bilateral ties between India and Pakistan. The film also starred Sushmita Sen, Zayed Khan and Amrita Rao in important roles.
On the show, Farah also shared some interesting trivia about Main Hoon Na. She revealed that Ayesha Takia, and not Amrita, was the first choice to play tomboy Sanjana Bakshi. In fact, Ayesha even signed the film but lost out because she was already committed to shooting for Imtiaz Ali’s Socha Na Tha. Amrita was then brought on board, just ten days before the shoot began.
Farah also had a tough time casting for the character of Laxman Prasad Sharma aka Lucky. She asked Hrithik Roshan to be a part of the film before he made his debut, but after Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai became a stupendous success, he refused to do a two-hero film. She also considered Abhishek Bachchan and Sohail Khan, before zeroing in on Zayed.
The filmmaker also opened up about the possibility of Main Hoon Na 2 and said that the chances of making it were bleak. She initially had an idea for a sequel – another mission for Major Ram after 15 years – but decided to drop the idea as she felt that there are newer stories to tell.
