Writer says Manoj Bajpayee was signed for Rang De Basanti; actor refutes

Recently, there were reports that not Aamir Khan but Manoj Bajpayee was the initial cast for the lead role in the 2006 film `Rang De Basanti` . This information was made public recently by Kamlesh Pandey, who was one of the screenwriters of the film. However, seems like Manoj Bajpayee does not agree with this statement made by the writer. 

Manoj Bajpayee reacts to Rang De Basanti casting report

On Thursday, Bajpayee took to social media to react to a report that claimed he was the first choice to play the role of DJ/Chandrasekhar Azad in the Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra directorial. While the role was played by Aamir Khan, Pandey said that Bajpayee had signed up for the role. 

But Bajpayee `s reaction to the post brings out a different story. “Matlab Kuch bhi,” wrote the actor reacting to the post

Matlab kuch bhi 😄

— 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 ! 😄😄

— manoj bajpayee (@BajpayeeManoj) June 26, 2025

What did Kamlesh Pandey say

During a chat with Ravya Sarda for her YouTube show, Kamlesh said that Rang De Basanti was initially meant to be a small film and Bajpayee was signed for the role. 

“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,” the writer said. 

Kamlesh said that until Aamir heard of the story, producers believed that the film was spin-off of Sholay. “Producers thought that this was a Sholay remake from the point of view of Basanti. They used to make fun of it and ask who was going to play her, and I used to tell them with a straight face that we were thinking of casting Esha Deol. They used to take it so seriously, and I didn’t really know whether to slap these people or ignore them”.

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