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Independence Day 2022: Did You Know Shah Rukh Khan's Initial Role in Fauji Required Him To Just Count Crows?
Indian television has given several patriotic shows and the iconic shows that one will remember is Shah Rukh Khan's Fauji. As India completes 75 years of Independence today, we bring you trivia of the show, that was revealed by the actor himself.
As the viewers are aware, SRK played the role of Lieutenant Abhimanyu Rai in the show and received accolades for his performance. But did you know that the actor was not the original choice for the show?
Yes, you read it right! The role of Lt. Abhimanyu Rai was originally to be played by producer-writer-director Colonel RK Kapoor's son. In an interview with Deccan Chronicle way back in 2016, SRK shared an interesting hitherto unknown anecdote on how he got to bag the lead role in the cult television series Fauji. SRK revealed that his initial role in the show required him to just count crows!
The Bollywood superstar revealed how he bagged the show and said that he landed up on the sets of Fauji, because the house-owner that they were speaking to after they needed a smaller house post his father's demise, got to know that he had been in Mumbai to act, and he revealed that his own father-in-law was producing a TV serial.
SRK said, "When I went there, Colonel Kapoor (Producer-director) offered me this sweet role, where I make a mistake and the Major would ask me to go a tree and count the number of crows in it. Once I reveal there are four, he asks me to be 'Saavdhaan'. I was embarrassed to go back and tell my mother that my role was all about counting crows."
He concluded by saying, "A lot of what I am today is courtesy luck. The colonel's son, who was the cinematographer, was also to play the lead. But he realised he can't do both simultaneously and decided to stick to cinematography. The colonel couldn't find a replacement in time, so he said, 'Hey, you. You are the one. You are good, jolly good. Come on. Go there.'. And I became Abhimanyu Rai, overnight. And he was the nicest to me. All of them treated me like family."
