Aamir Khan, Hrithik Roshan refused this Yash Raj film, Rishi Kapoor called it 'bakwas', movie became superhit, earned...

The 2004 romantic comedy Hum Tum featured Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukerji in the lead roles, and was directed by Kunal Kohli. Aditya Chopra produced the film under his Yash Raj Films banner. It set the standard for the stylish, contemporary romantic comedies that emerged in the 2000s.

Before Saif Ali Khan came on board, Kunal had approached Aamir Khan and Hrithik Roshan, who refused the film. The filmmaker shared why Hrithik rejected the film in an interview with Indian Express in 2024 when he stated, "Hrithik loved the script. He said, ‘I am not confident of the films I am doing right now, I don’t know how many of them will work or what will happen to them, and I don’t know whether I am in the right frame of mind to do this.’ He said to wait for a couple of his films to release and then let’s take a call. But Adi (Aditya) felt it would be too long to wait for two years, see how his films fare and then decide, so he suggested we let this go. Because even Hrithik wasn’t sure if he will do it, he was very honest that he is not sure if he is right for this space."

Revealing why Aamir refused the film and how Saif came on board, Kunal further added, "I don’t remember if we approached him before or after Hrithik. But Aamir was going through his divorce with Reena and told us, ‘I am not even in that frame of mind right now. It is a rom-com, I am not sure, I will give it a miss.’ He wasn’t in that space. So we were like ok no problem. I thought I will make something else. I remember there was a subject of a prisoner of war escaping from a camp. I told Adi let’s work on this because who do we cast for Hum Tum, there was no one. Then suddenly he said let’s take Saif, every scene of yours is perfect with him. Within 30 seconds I said he’s perfect."

Hum Tum also paved the way for Rishi Kapoor's second innings in Bollywood. However, the late actor had first refused the film and called it "bakwas." In a recent interview with Aleena Dissects, Kunal shared, "When I narrated the role to Rishi Kapoor, he said 'I am not doing this.' When I asked why, he said 'Guest appearance hai, mujhe nahi karna, kya hai? Bakwas hai. Saat toh scene diye tune mereko, nahi karna mujhe' ('It’s just a guest appearance. I don’t want to do this. Nonsense. You gave me just seven scenes, I don’t want to')."

Kunal further shared that Kapoor agreed to do Hum Tum after he made him hear his scenes. "Then he went 'this is nice, this is also nice.' He said 'Give me some more scenes. Why should I do a guest appearance?' I said 'Sir, I can have you in more scenes, you will just be hanging around. Here, every time you come, there is an impact.' I said 'Every scene of yours...there is an impact, every dialogue has an impact. I said I can add ten more scenes but they won’t have an impact. Then he said 'Haan theek hai chalo karte hain (Let’s do it).'"

Made in around Rs 8 crore, Hum Tum went on to become a superhit as it earned Rs 21 crore net in India and grossed Rs 42 crore worldwide. Saif Ali Khan even won the National Film Award for Best Actor for his performance. The romantic comedy also starred Kirron Kher, Jimmy Shergill, Rati Agnihotri, Isha Koppikar, and Abhishek Bachchan in a guest appearance.