Why did Salman Khan dropped the lead role in Chak De India, later led by SRK?

Shah Rukh Khan’s Chak De India served as a classic favourite, treading beyond the realm of sports drama. Despite a low opening, the film saw massive earnings later.

However, the fact is Shah Rukh Khan wasn’t the first choice to portray the Hockey coach Kabir Khan in Chak De India, rather Salman Khan was the ideal one. As per couple of media reports, Salman Khan sought a handsome remuneration for Chak De India. Therefore, Aditya Chopra refused collaborating with him until Ek Tha Tiger (2012).

Salman Khan as the first choice for Chak De India

Earlier, during the promotions of Sultan in 2016, Salman Khan was inquired about Chak De, to which he said, “I left it because even Shah Rukh Khan should be a part of a few great films.” Furthermore, he emphasised that his reputation is perhaps not in alignment to play a coach like Kabir Khan.

“When I was offered Chak De, my image was totally different as I was doing Partner and all those kinds of films. My only thing in Chak De was that my fans would expect me to wear a wig and win the match for India, which would not go for the film. That was not my genre at that point in time,” stated Salman.

He added, “It was a more serious kind of film and I was doing more of a commercial kind of cinema which I am still doing. I would never move out of the commercial cinema zone but it is just that there would be a lot of meaningful cinema in the commercial zone.”

Chak De India was helmed by Shimit Amin. Officially released in 2007, the movie was the second highest grosser of the year, after Om Shanti Om.