Mansoor Khan says Kajol refused to play Shah Rukh Khan's sister in Josh, walked out of his house: ‘Thank God Aishwarya Rai agreed or…'

Indian Express

21-04-2025

Filmmaker Mansoor Khan, who has directed cult classic films Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988) and Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (1992), recently reflected upcon the casting process of his 2000 action-romantic drama Josh. The film, which starred Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai in lead roles, was also offered to Kajol to play Shah Rukh Khan's sister. This was when the duo was already established as the biggest romantic pair in that era. In a recent interview, Mansoor Khan also opened up about eventually casting Aishwarya in the film.
Describing the approach behind the casting process, he shared, 'I don't ever think that the casting will work or not, I always think if I am convinced or not. I believe in personal conviction. But, there has to be a balance between your conviction and the audience reception.'
For Josh, the filmmaker was only firm about SRK playing Max's character. 'My thought was that both characters are equally important. I could have taken Shah Rukh for Max or a struggling actress, not Aishwarya Rai or an extra, but in my mind, they are parallel in their importance in the script.'
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He further added, 'I always had Shah Rukh in my mind for Max's role. I was intending to cast Aamir as the romantic lead opposite Aishwarya. But when I narrated the script to Aamir, he thought he was playing Max. Then I went to Shah Rukh, he was really excited about Max. I narrated it to him, he suggested a lot of things for Max's character. I asked him, 'You are doing the film or not?' He said no, because I was taking Aamir in it. He sensed it. That fell apart.'
Mansoor Khan went on to pitch the story to Kajol, who walked out and turned down the film. 'I narrated the script to Kajol because I wanted her to play the sister, after DDLJ, Baazigar, Karan Arjun and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. This is the ultimate sacrilege. After she heard the story idea, she got up to go out of my house. I asked her if she will do the film. She said no. She also wanted to play Max because it was such a charismatic character,' he said.
After which, Aishwarya Rai was cast for the role as she didn't have such a prejudice about roles and gave a nod for the film's story. 'Then, I realised that maybe nobody will want to play Max's sister, but thankfully Aishwarya agreed to do the film. She was thoroughly professional. I feel that Josh was her best film,' he concluded.