Aamir Khan wanted to play Shah Rukh Khan's role, director refused him; Kajol rejected the film, Aishwarya Rai replaced her, movie was...

Filmmaker Mansoor Khan says he wanted his cousin Aamir Khan to play Chandrachur Singh's role in his 2000 film Josh, but the actor thought he was being considered for the part that was portrayed by Shah Rukh Khan. Aamir played lead roles in most of Mansoor's films, including his debut as a leading man Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, and Akele Hum Akele Tum, and when the director offered him Josh, he automatically thought he was being considered for the main role. 

Josh revolved around two street gangs in Goa with Shah Rukh playing Max, the head of the Eagle gang. Things get complicated when his twin sister Shirley (Aishwarya Rai) falls for Rahul (Singh), the younger brother of the rival Bichhoo gang's leader Sharad (Sharad Kapoor). Mansoor said he always saw Josh as the story of two warring gangs. 

"I had written the script, and in my mind Shah Rukh was always going to play Max. In my mind, Aamir was the younger brother (of Sharad's character), so the romantic angle was (supposed to be) between Aamir and Aishwarya. I narrated it to Aamir, but I didn't say who is playing who, and he immediately thought he is Max. Next day he (Aamir) came to my dad (Nasir Hussain)'s office, he had a glove on and he was already into the character. I thought, 'Oh s***, he is thinking he is playing Max but I won't tell him no, let's see what happens next'," the filmmaker told PTI. 

Mansoor met with Shah Rukh again to gauge his interest and then broke the news to Aamir. "I came back and told Aamir, 'Sorry, I’m giving Max's role to Shah Rukh.' That time Aamir was shifting gears in his career. He didn't want to play romantic roles, he wanted to do slightly more tough films or bad boy or mature characters, so he flatly told me no. Aamir and I still have differences on this," he added. 

Mansoor said he initially approached Kajol to play Shirley, who is also the heroine of the film. Aishwarya eventually essayed the role. "I shared the whole thing, heard the whole thing and she started walking out. I asked her 'Hey Kajol, are you doing the film?' She said, 'I want to play Max'. Kajol said, 'How can I play Shah Rukh's sister?' Everyone wanted to play Max because the character was so charismatic," the filmmaker told the news agency.

Josh turned out to be Mansoor khan's last directorial venture before he moved to Coonoor, a hill station in Tamil Nadu, for a quieter life.