After the film was released, Tabu’s aunt scolded her for rejecting the role.
Tabu and Amitabh Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini’s Baghban, a family drama directed by Ravi Chopra, is considered an iconic film in Hindi cinema. However, Hema Malini was not the first choice in the film. In a recent chat with Pinkvilla, producer Renu Chopra, wife of Ravi Chopra, revealed that Tabu was the first choice to play Amitabh Bachchan’s wife in the film. However, she didn’t want to play a mother of four grown-up kids on screen.
Renu said, “We thought of casting Tabu, and she insisted on listening to the film’s script. She cried and all that. She loved the script. I thought she was definitely going to say yes to the film. Somebody was sitting with me, and she said, ‘When Tabu cries listening to the script of a film, she never does that film.’”
She added, “I asked this to Tabu, ‘You won’t do the film?’ She said she loved the story but she doesn’t want to portray a mother of four children. She said, ‘My whole career is ahead of me, so Ravi ji, mujhe maaf kardo (Ravi ji, please forgive me).’” At the time of the film’s release in 2003, Tabu was about 32 years old and Amitabh Bachchan was about 61 years old.
However, after the film was released, Tabu’s aunt scolded her for rejecting the role. Renu shared, “After two years of this conversation, when the film was released in theatres, Tabu was in Hyderabad and she went to see the film with her aunt and uncle. She told them that she was offered the film but refused the role. Her aunt reprimanded her, saying, ‘Ye chhappal nikalke tumhare sir pe marungi. Why did you say no to this film? (I will beat you with a slipper).’”
Not just Tabu, even Hema Malini was apprehensive about taking up the role. In an earlier interview with Bharathi S Pradhan, Hema Malini said that it was on her mother’s insistence that she took up the role in the film. She said, “Before the mahurat of Baghban, B R Chopra met me and told me that he wanted me to play the role perfectly just like he had desired. He narrated the story to me and I think, it was his blessing because of which the film did well. Till today, people talk about that film. I remember when I was hearing the story from Ravi Chopra, my mother was sitting with me. After he left, I said, ‘Chaar itne bade bade ladko ke maa ka role karne toh bol raha hai. How can I do all this?’ My mother said, ‘No, no. You must do it. The story is good’.”
