Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra burnt scripts after not being able to launch Abhishek Bachchan with Samjhauta Express

Abhishek Bachchan had made his debut with Refugee in 2000. But that wasn't the initial plan. The plan was to launch Abhishek with Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's Samjhauta Express. However, the film did not happen but Rakeysh and Abhishek did collaborate years later for Delhi 6. But, not being able to launch Abhishek did affect the director deeply, so much that he had burnt all materials related to the film in a huge bonfire in his terrace!

In reports that have been doing the rounds, it is being said that Jaya Bachchan did not like the idea of her son being launched with Samjhauta Express, since he had to play a terrorist. She had decided that he would go debut with Refugee. This made Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra 'deeply disappointed and crestfallen' and he vowed never to make the film. In fact, he reportedly took the script and all the research work, location pictures, wardrobe trials and burnt them in a bonfire on his terrace on the barbecue stove.

In his autobiography, The Stranger in the Mirror, Rakeysh has written, "I understood the decision (Abhishek's) rationally. My script involved Abhishek playing a Pakistan-sponsored terrorist in his first film, which was against the grain of how Indian audiences perceive their hero... I couldn't help but wonder: what is the right launch pad for an actor with a gargantuan legacy like Abhishek?"

They worked together in Delhi 6 which failed to do well at the box-office. The director also opened up about how the failure of the film had propelled him towards alcoholism.