Farhan Akhtar reveals why he replaced Hrithik with SRK in ‘Don’

Bollywood filmmaker-actor Farhan Akhtar began writing the script for “Don” soon after the release of Hrithik Roshan’s “Lakshya”. He told Hrithik that wanted to cast him in the film and would soon present him with a script. However, while writing, Farhan could only think of Shah Rukh Khan. Farhan said that Hrithik graciously told him to pursue Shah Rukh as it was his project.

Farhan told Raj Shamani on his podcast, “I reached out to Hrithik and I told him that I am thinking about remaking Don. He said ‘Sounds amazing’ and I said ‘Let me write it and I will bring it to you’. While writing it, the only person whose face kept popping into my head was Shah Rukh.” Farhan said that Shah Rukh felt like the right fit for the film due to his “personality, wit, sarcastic humour”.

“When I was writing, it felt like this guy is actually the best actor for this part but I had already spoken to Hrithik so I thought about what to do. I called up Hrithik and I told him that I have been writing the film and I am just feeling more and more that I should reach out to Shah Rukh. He said ‘Farhan, you have to make your film, you have to make it the way you want to make it and if you are feeling he is the guy, please go ahead and call him, don’t worry about me’. That is a very gracious thing,” he recalled. Hrithik later made a cameo appearance in the 2011 film Don 2, which was also headlined by Shah Rukh.