Actor Karisma Kapoor celebrated 25 years of her film Judwaa, which starred Salman Khan and Rambha. She took to Instagram to sharea montage of clips from the comedy, and penned a short and emotional note about the film. She wrote, “Judwaa was a journey full of love, laughter, pranks and adventure
Can’t believe it’s been 25 years since!” The film chronicled the adventures of two lookalikes—one is a street-smart man, the other is a simpleton. The musical tracks from the film still remain a favourite, including Lift Teri Bandh Hai and Chalti Hai Kya Nau Se Baara.
Judwaa was later remade in 2017, with Varun Dhawan, Taapsee Pannu and Jacqueline Fernandez. It was a blockbuster as well.
Ironically, Salman Khan wasn’t the first choice for the 1997 film. Govinda, who had established himself in comedies, revealed that Salman had requested him to drop out of the film so that he could star in it. After the film’s release, David Dhawan lavished praise on him in several interviews, saying that it was a Salman Khan film through and through. “Govinda also called him to say that Salman has done such a wonderful job—they all did, Karisma Kapoor and Rambha,” David had said at that time.
When Judwaa 2 was to be released, David Dhawan revealed that Salman would appear as if he wasn’t interested while shooting, but would actually be the most keen on filming. “That time, whenever he used to give a shot, you would feel that he is not interested. But then he is the most interested. When I saw the film again, I used to keep telling Varun, ‘See what he has done’ here. Khan saab is all heart. He takes his time, he doesn’t hurry up on the scene, he gives you the right shot.”
Taapsee Pannu also interjected that David would play the songs from the original film and make them watch it. “He would play it in his office and tell us, ‘Yeh dekh!’ There was so much pressure before shooting.” The pressure to live up to the original film’s success was immense, as Varun revealed. In fact, Salman Khan had apparently advised Varun Dhawan ‘to not be oversmart’ and listen to David Dhawan for the film. “When I took this film on, he told me it’s going to be a challenge to convince my fans.”