Deepak Tijori reveals making Baazigar was his idea till it was stolen by Abbas Mustan to make the movie with Shah Rukh Khan

Baazigar remains one of Shah Rukh Khan ’s most memorable roles in his filmography which catapulted him to new heights of stardom in the ‘90s. The thriller directed by duo Abbas Mustan , however, was the brain child of actor Deepak Tijori who has claimed that the filmmakers went behind his back and signed Shah Rukh for the role after he pitched them the idea.

Deepak Tijori has in a recent interview revealed how after watching the 1991 Hollywood film A Kiss Before Dying, he had the idea to make a Bollywood film where he plays the bad guy. After having successfully convinced Abbas Mustan to direct the movie, Deepak was in a conversation with producer Phalaj Nihalani to produce the movie when he learnt that the director duo had taken the project to Shah Rukh Khan and even on boarded a different of producers.

After having the project taken away from him Deepak said he was offered by producer Pahlaj Nihlani to go forward with the film with a different director which would wrap up before Abbas Mustan’s project. However, Deepak said he wasn’t convinced.

“It was a very lucrative offer for an actor that I have a bigger producer, only the directors will be different,” Deepak said about the idea of making a separate film on the same story with Pahlaj Nihalani.

Deepak, who was the peak of his career in Bollywood at the times, also had Pooja Bhatt mind to play a double role as sisters which later went to Kajol and Shilpa Shetty. The actor shared in his interview with Bollywood Hungama that he did confront Abbas Mustan after asking his friend Shah Rukh Khan to hold off on saying yes to the project. The filmmaker duo apparently agreed to their error and even promised to do something different with him but later failed to keep that promise.

“When I met Abbas-Mustan, they told me, ‘Deepak ji galti ho gayi hai (We have made a mistake) We will compensate. We will do something together in the future.” I told them are you sure about it since I have an offer from Pahlaj Nihalani. They said, ‘Haan haan Deepak ji karte hain na, hum logg word dete hain (Sure, we give you our word),” Deepak recalled during the interview.

The actor admits he regrets not doing Baazigar and also revealed how the whole ordeal taught him a lesson about Bollywood where he learnt promises for future collaborations are simply words to pacify the others.