As Shah Rukh Khan's 'Baazigar' completes its silver jubilee, here are some astonishing facts about the iconic thriller

Shah Rukh Khan starrer 'Baazigar' faced quite a few hurdles from delay in shoot due to communal riots to t getting a hero to play a negative role. But as film completes 25 years, director duo Abbas Mustan are happy as it is regarded one of best Bollywood thrillers till date. Released on vember 12, 1993, 'Baazigar' featured Shah Rukh as an anti-hero. thriller, also one of Kajol's earliest successes and Shilpa Shetty's debut, became a blockbuster thanks to its plot and chartbuster music by Anu Malik.

As film completes 25 years, Mustan, in an interview with PTI, talks about obstacles team faced, why Salman Khan and Anil Kapoor turned down anti-hero role and why y shot two different climax scenes for movie. "People still like film and it is a big compliment to entire team. important thing is maker should be convinced with his own vision as that will reflect on screen. We h a hero playing a negative role. Though it led to hit pairing of Shah Rukh and Kajol, it was t a romantic film. But it all worked well," Mustan told PTI. He recalls movie received overwhelming response across globe and y witnessed it during film's US and UK screenings.

birth of film, however, was difficult. mahurat of film was done in December 1992 and shoot was scheduled to start soon, with aim to wrap it up by January-February. film hit a roblock after communal riots broke in different parts of country post demolition of Babri Masjid on December 6. "re was a tense moment due to riots, people were scared and were t going out. But Mumbai is a city that bounces back like never before. Once things got cleared, work began as usual."

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"We started shooting sometime in late March and wrapped it by May-June and decided to release it on Diwali. film was earlier set to release in June-July."  'Baazigar' chronicled story of a young man with a vendetta against a business tycoon and how he plots to destroy rest of family. Mustan, an ardent fan of Manmohan Desai's cinema, was inspired by filmmaking style of rewned director to form crux of 'Baazigar' as a mor-son story with revenge as backdrop.

"In his films, character of a mor was of utmost importance. We wanted to have that element in our film. It is all about bringing right emotion for a film. If mor-son relationship is explored and justified properly on screen n it definitely strikes a chord with audience. If a son is taking revenge for his mor n his every sin is forgiven. And it worked well with audience."

makers felt veteran actor Rakhee Gulzar was perfect choice to play a distressed mor to Shah Rukh. It was Rakhee, who h told director duo to change climax of film. "Rakhee ji said yes but wanted ending to be changed as she felt audience should t be let down. A lot of distributors said hero should t die in end and inste police should come and arrest him."

"So we h shot both endings. We felt ending where police come and take SRK will t work as emotional graph of character would t be conveyed correctly." When first copy came out, Mustan says, both, distributors and Rakhee eventually agreed to go with duo's vision of climax. film is said to be a remake of 'A Kiss Before Dying' but Mustan insists only one scene is inspired from this 1991 Hollywood film.

"Our film is completely different from this Hollywood movie. Only one shot where a man throws a girl off terrace, we just h that scene where Shah Rukh's character throws Shilpa off terrace to her death. That film has track of mor-son, it is re in our film," Mustan says. Shah Rukh, w regarded as King of Romance, played anti-hero effortlessly, but he was t first choice for film. Mustan says, producers h approached Salman, who at that point was doing Sooraj Barjatya's film and felt negative role might t work for his good boy on-screen im.

While, Anil Kapoor, according to Mustan, felt he may t be able to carry negative role. Mustan recalls, Shah Rukh h come to meet producers at Venus company for narration of a film, which he did t like, but a chance encounter with director duo got him 'Baazigar'. Describing SRK as a director's actor, Mustan says, "He used to shoot one scene in four-five different ways. He has a huge range as an actor."  

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Giving an example of a scene, where SRK kills Resham Tipnis (Shilpa Shetty's friend), who h photographs as evidence to unmask him, Mustan says, "We told him that he should keep photograph in his pocket. Shah Rukh inste thought of tearing photo and putting it in his mouth. re were things which he did spontaneously."  Mustan says, it was SRK, who helped m in getting necessary permission to shoot in Delhi, hometown of 53-year-old superstar. film was shot in Delhi and Mumbai and title track was filmed in Mauritius.

producers h told director duo to consider casting big heroines like Sridevi or Juhi Chawla but y felt a fresh pairing was apt for film. "We felt if an artiste or actor is bigger than film n it will t work," Mustan ds. "When we went to Kajol, she was so lively and jovial, we felt she might t be able to understand script and her role. She showed her maturity during shoot and remained focused. Shilpa too worked very hard," Mustan says. re have been rumours about sequel to 'Baazigar' but Mustan is happy that film is relevant even today and a part two can only be me if y come across a great story.