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Vishal Bharadwaj’s film ‘Omkara’ was released in 2006. In which Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Konkana Sen Sharma, Vivek Oberoi and Bipasha Basu played lead roles. ‘Omkara’ was one of the successful films of that year. In which Saif Ali Khan shocked everyone by playing the role of Langra Tyagi. No one imagined him in such a role. Vishal Bharadwaj revealed that Aamir Khan helped him in casting for the role of Langra Tyagi.
Aamir advised
Vishal was going to do a film with Aamir which was titled ‘Mr Mehta and Mrs Singh’ but then the film did not materialise. Speaking to Mid-Day, Vishal said on the role of Langra Tyagi in ‘Omkara’, ‘About Saif… I think Aamir is responsible for this. We were doing that film together so I spent a lot of time with Aamir. His company is good. He is fun to sit with. Aamir used to share his feelings with me and ask me about my future plans. Then I told him that I had an adaptation of Othello and that he was the character of the anchorite deserter. He said, whenever you make a film, keep my name in mind.
Impressed after watching Saif in Dil Chahta Hai
Aamir was busy with ‘Rang De Basanti’ when it was decided to make the film. Vishal continued, ‘I was not working for one and a half years. I wanted to make a film so I thought if Aamir liked the character so much, other stars would too. At that time I had seen Saif’s work in Dil Chahta Hai. Earlier her voice was like a girl and her acting was weird but in Dil Chahta Hai she outworked herself. Saif was completely different in Dil Chahta Hai.
Wasn’t ready to get a haircut
He says, ‘I felt like he had a fire inside him and that he had transformed himself apart from the haircut. With much effort we convinced him to cut his hair as he was not ready to cut it. Apart from this he gave more than what I expected from him.