Not many will be aware that filmmaker Raj Kumar Santoshi was about to manage the formidable coup of getting Aamir Khan & Shah Rukh Khan together on the big screen together for the first time in London Dreams. At that point, it was to be titled Rashque (‘jealousy’ in Urdu), which is the film’s underlying sentiment. The two stars are said to have even attended joint narrations.
Both the actors loved the script and wanted to sleep over it before committing themselves. Santoshi is rumoured to have pursued the two superstars relentlessly and even chased alternatives like Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar, before giving up when the casting did not fructify.
As destiny would have it, Salman Khan took London Dreams to filmmaker Vipul A. Shah, who started afresh on the script. The former automatically stepped into Aamir’s shoes while Ajay Devgn was roped in by Shah to step into Shah Rukh’s. It became another historic coup of sorts as the two stars reunited ten years after featuring together in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s smash hit, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.
London Dreams releases worldwide on October 30 and is being marketed and distributed internationally by Studio 18.
