Emraan Hashmi and Mallika Sherawat starrer Murder (2004) was one of the biggest hits of those times, while its music was loved a lot by music lovers, the movie got more publicity because of the bold and intimate scenes of Emraan and Mallika.
However, Emraan Hashmi was not the first choice for the role that he played in the movie, very few people know that Mahesh Bhatt offered the movie first to Rajniesh Duggall.
Recently during an interview, Rajniesh Duggall revealed that he was offered this movie just three days after winning the Mr. India title and he got close to Mukesh Bhatt and Mahesh Bhatt during the pageant as they were his mentors.
Three days after winning the title, Rajniesh Duggall was called to Bhatt’s office and he remembered that Bhatt told him that he is going to make a movie for re-launching his nephew, Emraan Hashmi who made his debut in 2003 with Footpath. Rajniesh recalled Bhatt saying, “I am taking a new girl called Reema Gill (Mallika Sherawat’s real name) who hails from Delhi NCR and he made me listen to Murder’s album which was amazing.”
Rajniesh said that he was offered an option to make a choice, either to play the role of husband or boyfriend and the other role would be given to Emraan Hashmi. However, Rajniesh refused to work in the film as he was not ready to kiss scenes because he had a girlfriend, Pallavee (his wife now).
Bhatt respected Rajniesh’s decision and Rajniesh got the chance to make his debut in 2008 with Vikram Bhatt’s movie, 1920.
