Tuesday Trivia: Sikandar Kher was the first choice for this character in 'Dil Chahta Hai'

L-Sikandar Kher; R- Poster of Dil Chahta Hai

Actor Sikandar Kher turns a year old today. He is the son of actress and politician Kirron Kher and her first husband Gautam Berry. He is the stepson of actor Anupam Kher. Sikander got his first break in acting from producer Sanjay Gupta in the film, 'Woodstock Villa' in 2008. But did you know much before his acting debut he was approached for an iconic role?

Sikandar Kher was first approached by Farhan Akhtar to play the role of Sameer in the 2001 film 'Dil Chahta Hai'. However, he refused as he was not ready to make his acting debut back then.

Farhan Akhtar's debut directorial 'Dil Chahta Hai' featured Aamir Khan, Akshaye Khanna and Saif Ali Khan in the lead. The film has found a place for itself in pop culture and is one of the best films made in Hindi cinema. It redefined the meaning of friendship, love and relationship. It was coming of age film and a reflection of how Bollywood was starting to change and ready to deal with more challenging and realistic subjects. The film was applauded for its strong storyline, performance and music. It won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi. It also starred Preity Zinta, Sonali Kulkarni and Dimple Kapadia. However, the casting of the film was not an easy one.

According to the IMDb trivia, the filmmaker originally wrote the movie by casting Akshaye Khanna as Akash, Hrithik Roshan as Siddhart and Saif Ali Khan as Sameer. When Hrithik Roshan turned the role down, it went to Abhishek Bachchan. After Abhishek's exit, Farhan approached Aamir Khan who was going though a lean phase at the time. Aamir Khan insisted on playing Akash and Akshaye Khanna graciously agreed to swap roles.

Meanwhile, Sikandar Kher eventually went on to feature in films like 'Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey', 'Players', 'Tere Bin Laden 2', 'The Zoya Factor', 'Monica , O My Darling' and the popular web series 'Aarya'. He is currently gearing up for the third season of the show headlined by Sushmita Sen. Kher plays the role of Daulat in the show. In the third season, Aarya has her eyes set on the supply and transportation of the narcotic drug but is intercepted by Ila Arun, who herself is the undisputed queen on the supply side.