Shah Rukh Khan has played iconic roles in his career but his character in ‘Swades’ is truly a memorable one. The actor was seen as Mohan Bhargav, who is a non-resident Indian working at NASA and comes back to his old nanny’s village in India. The movie has left a lasting impression on the minds of its viewers and has proven to be quite an impactful story over the years. But do you know Shah Rukh Khan was not the first choice of director Ashutosh Gowariker for ‘Swades’. 

As per rumours, the filmmaker first offered ‘Swades’ to Aamir Khan, with whom he has worked in ‘Lagaan’. However, Dilip Thakur, who was associated with ‘Swades’, revealed the movie was not offered to the ‘3 Idiots’ actor but he helped Ashutosh Gowariker in some aspects of the film. He told ETimes, “Swades was never offered to Aamir Khan, he helped Gowariker with a scene set in the village. Marathi actress Prajakta Mali has a scene of a few seconds in Swades.”

He further shared, “On 2nd of January 2004, mahurat of Swades happened in the presence of Aamir Khan. Gowariker had first offered Swades to Hrithik Roshan who had said no citing that it was not his kind of film. Later, Shah Rukh accepted the role and it gave a break from his on-screen image of romantic Raj/Rahul that started with ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge’ and three years after ‘Swades’, ‘Chak De! India’ was released.”  

Another fun fact about ‘Swades’ is that it was the first Indian film to be shot inside the NASA headquarters. 

The movie also stars Gayatri Joshi and Kishori Ballal, Daya Shankar Pandey, Rajesh Vivek and Lekh Tandon in the pivotal roles.