Omkara director Vishal Bhardwaj chose Saif Ali Khan over Aamir Khan for Langda Tyagi role

Vishal Bhardwaj's directorial Omkara was an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello. The film boasted an ensemble star cast including Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor, Konkona Sen Sharma, Bipasha Basu, Vivek Oberoi and Saif Ali Khan. However, little is it known that Aamir Khan too wanted to be a part of the project. 

When Aamir Khan expressed a desire to play Saif Ali Khan’s character in Omkara 

In a new interview with Midday, filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj spoke about the casting of his 2006 film Omkara. The director spoke about the time when Aamir Khan expressed a desire to be a part of the crime drama. He recalled working with the Rang De Basanti on some other project when they got to discussing Omkara and the character of Langda Tyagi. 

Vishal recalled Aamir Khan being responsible for the casting of Saif Ali Khan. He remembered, “For Saif, I think, Aamir is responsible for that. We were doing that film together, so I spent a lot of time with Aamir. He is lovely company, and it’s fun to hang around with him. Aamir would share what he had in his mind and ask me what I had in my mind to plan for the future. So, I told him that I have this Othello, and this Langda Tyagi character with me.”  He added how Aamir Khan was particularly excited about playing Langda Tyagi. He added, “Whenever you make this film, I’d love to be considered for Langda Tyagi.’ So that remained with me, but the film didn’t happen, I wasn’t working for one and a half years. I wanted to make a film desperately, so I thought if this character can excite Aamir so much, then I can excite some another star with this. At the time, I had seen Saif’s work.” 

Vishal Bhardwaj recalls how he decided to cast Saif Ali Khan 

In the same conversation, Bhardwaj recalled Aamir Khan being busy with another project when they got to making Omkara. He said, “He was busy, he did Rang De Basanti, and I didn’t want to get stuck for another one and a half years. I wanted to (make the film), with whoever I get.” He further continued that it was Saif’s performance in Dil Chahta Hai that compelled him to cast him in Omkara. 

He recalled, “When I saw Saif in Dil Chahta Hai, what Saif was before that, his voice was a little feminine, his performance would be ajeeb (weird). But in Dil Chahta Hai, he really worked on himself. In Dil Chahta Hai, he was a different Saif. I felt that he had a fire in him and had transformed himself. And he had shot up” Vishal shared that when he pitched the film to Saif, he asked the actor, “Are you ready to work hard? Because nobody would be able to imagine that you can do that role. Nobody could imagine.” He continued, “But he was ready to do that. He really (worked hard), except cutting his hair. With great effort, we convinced him to cut his hair because he was not ready to cut it. Other than that he was more than I asked for.”