Rajpal Yadav is back to the movies after a tough start to the year. The actor spent some time in Tihar Jail in a cheque bounce case. Now, he is looking forward to his upcoming releases, with Priyadarshan’s Bhooth Bangla being a major one. The film, co-starring Akshay Kumar, will be released in theatres on April 17.

Rajpal Yadav on Om Shaanti Om 

Ahead of the release of Bhooth Bangla, Rajpal Yadav spoke about the roles he regretted missing out on. He revealed that he lost out on a role in Om Shanti Om due to a misunderstanding with lead actor Shah Rukh Khan. He added that he only learned about the issue when Billu went on floors. The Priyadarshan directorial starred Irrfan Khan and Shah Rukh Khan. Rajpal revealed that he was supposed to play the titular character in the film, but the role eventually went to Irrfan Khan.

In an interaction with Zoom, Rajpal said, “Billu Barber ka pura production dekhte the Juhi Chawla ke brother. Voh shaam ko bethe the hum toh mujhe gale mile aur bole bhai (SRK) se mil lena. Bhai aapko bahut pyaar karte hain. Jab hum Kal Ho Naa Ho main kaam kiya, toh Shah Rukh bhai ne bola tha kabhi ek lamba, koi badiya track karenge kyunki ek scene main itna maza aaya. Maine kaha main toh dupehr main hi mila tha, Unhone kaha thoda kuch confusion hai. Toh maine kaha kya? Bole voh role likhwaya tha unhone aapke liye aur voh aapne mana kardiya keh ke time nahi hai (The entire production of Billu Barber was being handled by Juhi Chawla’s brother. One evening, he met me, hugged me, and said, `You should meet bhai. He loves you a lot. When we had worked together in Kal Ho Naa Ho, Shah Rukh Khan had told me that someday we would do a longer, substantial track together because he had enjoyed doing that one scene with me so much. I said I had met him only that afternoon. Then he said there seemed to be some confusion. I asked what happened. He told me that he had specifically asked for a role to be written for me, but apparently I had declined it saying I did not have the time).”

How Rajpal sorted things with SRK

Rajpal recalled that he immediately called his manager to find out if anything like that had happened. He said, “Unhe bhi pata nahi tha. aur mujhe bhi nahi pata tha. Pata laga ki vahan pe kisi ne bitching karke aur Om Shanti Om ke liye meri tasveer dusri pesh kardi. Pata bhi nahi SRK ko aur mujhe bhi pata nahi. Toh yeh Bollywood hai ismein aise 10-20 kisse ho jaate hain. Aur main aur Shah Rukh Khan gale mile uske baad jaise koi lafda hi nahi (He did not know about it, and neither did I. It turned out that someone had been bi**hing there, and I was presented negatively in front of Shah Rukh bhai for Om Shanti Om. Neither Shah Rukh Khan knew about it, nor did I. So this is Bollywood, 10 to 20 such incidents happen here. After that, Shah Rukh Khan and I hugged it out as if there had never been any issue at all).”

Meanwhile, Rajpal Yadav’s next is Bhooth Bangla with Akshay Kumar, Tabu, Paresh Rawal, and Wamiqa Gabbi. Rajpal has acted in several films directed by Priyadarshan and has played some of the most memorable characters of his career in these films.