MUMBAI: Akshay, in the film, Dil To Pagal Hai played Madhuri Dixit’s childhood friend, who was hopelessly in love with her. While he wishes to marry her, he later leaves heartbroken, uniting Rahul and Pooja, who were actually made for each other.

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Akshay Kumar had some scenes and a dance sequence in the film, and reports suggest that while Jackie Shroff was the original choice of the film, Yash Chopra decided to cast Akki to keep the young feel of the film intact.

However, after the film was completed, not all was well between the Khiladi superstar and Yash Raj Films. Well, guess how much was Akshay paid for his cameo in the much-acclaimed musical blockbuster? To everyone’s surprise, it was anything.

According to an IMDB trivia and as quoted by Desi Martini, “Jackie Shroff was the original choice for second lead Ajay’s character. However, Yash Chopra decided to go with Akshay in the end to give the role a younger feel. When Akshay approached the director for his payment post-shoot, Chopra refused and told him to feel grateful that he was a part of a Yash Raj film.”

Dil To Pagal Hai starring Shah Rukh Khan, Karisma Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit was released in 1997, and it was a bad time for Akshay Kumar in the industry as the actor suffered a string of flops. Though reportedly he was not convinced to do Dil To Pagal Hai, but he surrendered to his fate, accepting the small part.

Later, when he was not paid for the film, it fuelled a cold war between Akshay and Yash Raj Films as the actor decided to never work with the Chopras. This alleged war ended in 2008, 11 years after Dil To Pagal Hai when Akshay Kumar signed Tashan with Yash Raj Films.

However, the film tanked at the Box Office. Akshay Kumar and Yashraj Films again reunited for Samrat Prithviraj, which was a disaster. The film’s debacle fuelled rumors about how Akshay was irresponsible with the character and was in a hurry to finish the film, which caused the quality to get compromised.

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None clarified or dismissed the rumors from either of the parties. Interestingly, the director revealed once that Sunny Deol was the original choice for Samrat Prithviraj. However, since Sunny and Yash Raj Films also had a fallout ages ago, after the Gadar actor felt cheated during his film Darr by Yash Chopra, he vowed to never work with Yash Raj Films.

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Credits - koimoi