Manoj Bajpayee Shuts Down Rumours That He Was First Choice For Aamir Khan's Rang De Basanti: " Matlab Kuch Bhi"

NDTV

4 hours ago

Manoj Bajpayee reacted to the viral rumour that he was the first choice for Aamir Khan's role in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's Rang De Basanti. Slamming the rumour in a hilarious way, the Family Man actor shared on his X, handle "Matlab kuch bhi (you can say anything)."
What's Happening
Manoj Bajpayee shared a social media post which read, "Manoj Bajpayee was first choice for Rang De Basanti, not Aamir Khan, says producer after 18 years."
Sharing the post, he wrote, "And who is the producer who said this? Naam to bata!! SM pe itne khali lota le ke baithe hai (On social media, people have nothing better things to do)."
Sharing the same post, he mentioned in another X post, "Matlab kuch bhi (you can say anything)."
The chatter around Manoj Bajpayee being the first choice for the 2006 film started after Kamlesh Pandey(co-writer of the film) said in an interview with Ravya Sarda that Manoj Bajpayee had signed the film before Aamir came on board.
"We had been roaming around with the script of the film for 6 years, and no one was ready to make that film. We had signed Manoj for the role that Aamir played finally. We thought we would make a small film; we didn't have a big budget. The moment Aamir heard the script, he told us that he wanted to do the film, and he even got AR Rahman to come on the project. UTV, who had rejected the film twice in the past, immediately said yes to it," he said during the interview.
After his interview went viral, several portals put out articles that the Satya star was supposed to play Aamir Khan's role in the film.
Matlab kuch bhi 😄 https://t.co/RIUjPRitRM
— manoj bajpayee (@BajpayeeManoj) June 26, 2025
And who is the producer who said this? Naam to bata !! SM pe itne khali lota le ke baithe hai ! 😄😄 https://t.co/RIUjPRhW2e
— manoj bajpayee (@BajpayeeManoj) June 26, 2025
About Rang De Basanti
The film stars an ensemble cast including Aamir Khan, Siddharth (in his Hindi debut), Atul Kulkarni, Sharman Joshi, Kunal Kapoor, British actress Alice Patten (in her Hindi debut), Waheeda Rehman, and Soha Ali Khan. The film is a social and political critique of the government in power (back then). The film achieved a cult status in the following years.
In A Nutshell
Manoj Bajpayee shut down the rumours that he was the first choice for Aamir Khan's role in Rang De Basanti through his tongue-in-cheek X posts.