Koffee with Karan: Saif Ali Khan revealed that Yash Chopra stood like a rock through his tough years and saved him and his career.
Saif Ali Khan made his acting debut with Yash Chopra's Parampara in 1993
Saif Ali Khan was to make his acting debut with the film Bekhudi, opposite Kajol. However, he was replaced by the director Rahul Rawail for not being serious about his work. On the recent episode of Koffee With Karan season 8, the actor revealed to host Karan Johar how filmmaker Yash Chopra saved his career from ending before it even began.
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Saif made his Bollywood debut with Parampara, directed by Yash Chopra, in 1993. The actor revealed that Yash Chopra stood like a rock through his tough years and saved him and his career.
Saif revealed that after he was fired from Bekhudi, other offers that he had in hand also went away. Talking about the same, Saif said, “So there were a couple of offers which kind of dried up. Rahul Rawail told me, 'This is it. Nobody's going to work with you.' And he was a bit sadistic, I must say, because he kind of enjoyed that. And I thought, okay, and they did dry up. And then Yash Chopra ji called me over. I went over and he said, 'I've heard you're very naughty, you gotta give me your word.' He was casting Parampara with a lot of people in the movie."
"There was Aamir, Raveena, Neelam, Vinod Khanna," added Karan Johar.
Saif continued, “Sunil Dutt too, and I knew that there was a huge multi-starrer, and he wanted someone for this role, he wasn't finding someone. And he met me and he said, 'You promise to be good.' That was pretty much it. And I said, 'Of course, I promise you I will be.' And he said, 'Okay, you're in the movie.' And overnight, the offers started. You know how it is. If Yash Chopra is casting, then everyone comes. The same people who had said, 'No, we're not interested,' were very interested now. So he saved me."
Saif had come with his mother, actress Sharmila Tagore on Koffee With Karan. She revealed that she had spoken to director Rahul Rawail when he fired Saif, but that didn't help. "I told him that this is going to hurt him (Saif)," she said. You can watch the full episode with Saif and Sharmila on Disney+ Hotstar.