Original Baazigar script had Kajol's character kill Shah Rukh Khan, reveal Abbas-Mustan: ‘He was an out-and-out negative character'

Indian Express

20-07-2025

Shah Rukh Khan's Baazigar was a trailblazing film of its time. At a time when lead actors were focused on playing massy, messiah-like characters, Shah Rukh broke the mould by portraying a cold-blooded killer in Baazigar. In a recent interaction, the film's directors Abbas-Mastan spoke about how they came up with the concept of the film.
Admitting that Baazigar's concept was new for that era, Abbas-Mustan shared that although the world saw Shah Rukh's character as a negative one, they viewed him as the hero. Mustan Burmawalla said, 'It was a new concept at that time. We thought of Shah Rukh's character as a hero; he was negative, but he was our hero, and also, you have to understand why he did what he did in the film. For instance, if some character is doing something negative, but in the background he has some good qualities or there is a reason for him to turn negative, then if his character turns negative, that is also okay.'
He also revealed that the first draft of the film was entirely different, in which the female lead would eventually kill Shah Rukh's character. He said, 'In the first draft of the film, the hero was an out-and-out negative character who saw a tough childhood as his father would be a drunk, and he would beat his mother, and the kid would grow up wishing that he would become rich one day. After growing up, the character decides to get into a relationship with both daughters of a millionaire and eventually kill one of the daughters to take over the millionaire's empire. Later, the second girl gets to know about the character's intention and kills him. This was the first draft of the film.'
Later, he admitted that they were inspired by movies of filmmakers like Manmohan Desai and Prakash Mehra and realised that the film wouldn't work without emotions. That's when they decided to give a strong backstory to Shah Rukh's character, which explored his emotional past with his mother, his father's death and his little sister. He said, 'We realised that the film would not work without emotions, and the biggest emotion is the mother and father's.' Mustan shared that he informed the producer about the change in the storyline to incorporate an emotional arc and took time from him to work on the film's new version. 'Screenplay was the most important aspect of Baazigar.'
Baazigar follows the story of Shah Rukh Khan's character, Ajay Sharma, who seeks revenge against business tycoon Madan Chopra for destroying his family. As part of his plan, he seduces Chopra's daughters, murders one, and, after falling for the other, dies in a violent confrontation.