There are so many great personalities and leaders in India that has not only inspired us in our lives but also our Bollywood films. On such figure is Bhagat Singh whose life and struggles have formed the crux of many Bollywood films over the years. In 2002, however, there were a particular at least 3-4 films based on Bharat Singh hit the screen at the same time.

Most notable among them was Ajay Devgn’s The Legend Of Bhagat Singh directed by Rajkumar Santoshi and Bobby Deol starrer 23 March 1931: Shaheed directed by Guddu Dhanoa. Both the films had Bhagat Singh’s life as the main plot line and released on the same date, June 7, 2002. But that is not where the similarities stop.

Rajkumar Santoshi wanted to cast Aishwarya Rai as Mannewali in The Legend of Bhagat Singh. However, she was already working as Mannewali in Bobby Deol’s Bhagat so Santoshi went on to cast Amrita Rao for the role.

The cast shuffling did not end here. Santoshi wanted to cast Sunny Deol as Chandra Shekhar Azad from the very beginning. However, Sunny put forward a condition that he would do the role only if brother Bobby Deol was offered the role of Bhagat Singh. However, Santoshi was adamant about casting Ajay Devgn for the role and Sunny and Bobby played the roles they wanted in Guddu Dhanoa’s film. Incidentally, The Legend of Bhagat Singh earned Ajay Devgn his second National Award after Zakhm.