Saif Reveals Ranbir Wanted To Act Because Of Omkara; Opens Up About Aamir Being The Original Choice

Saif Ali Khan is not only an extremely talented actor but also one of the most sought-after celebrities of Bollywood. While he has won hearts with many of his performances, Saif’s portrayal of Langda Tyagi in the super hit crime drama Omkara left fans in awe. He was superb and proved how incredibly versatile he can be. The actor had initially wanted to play the lead role, which was beautifully portrayed by Ajay Devgn, but director Vishal Bhardwaj felt he was ‘too good-looking’ and needed the character to have a complex.

In a chat with Film Companion, Saif opened up about the love that his character received from the audience and critics. He also revealed that Ranbir Kapoor had told him how he wants to be an actor because of Omkara. Saif shared, “It was a lovely feeling. I got messages from so many people. Ranbir Kapoor said I want to become an actor because of this. Not my performance, but this kind of film. This is what we should be doing. Some people from the industry said you will find it really hard to do something better than this.”

Interestingly, Aamir Khan was the original choice for Langda Tyagi’s role. In fact, the character was written with him in mind. Saif shared that he heard the same later and Vishal had told him that Aamir asked a lot of questions and wanted to ‘alter things’. He recalled, “Aamir must have just had a discussion with him but Vishal apparently said he will call him back and then called me instead. He just said it is not going to work because he wasn’t sure it was going to go the way Aamir wanted. It was not something Vishal was comfortable with following.”

Well, we are glad things worked out for the best! Currently, Saif has three exciting projects in his kitty, including an adaptation of The Fault in Our Stars titled Dil Bechara, alongside Sushant Singh Rajput and Sanjana Sanghi, Bunty Aur Babli 2 co-starring Rani Mukerji, Siddhant Chaturvedi and Sharvari, and Pawan Kripalani’s Bhoot Police.