Akshay Kumar was rejected for villain’s role in Aamir Khan’s Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander: ‘They didn’t like it’

Actor Akshay Kumar auditioned for Mansoor Khan’s Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander in 1992. He had auditioned for the role of Shekhar Malhotra in the film, which went to Deepak Tijori finally. The film starred Aamir Khan, Pooja Bedi and Ayesha Jhulka in the lead roles. At the time, Akshay had just acted in a handful of films, including Saugandh and Dancer, which released in 1991. His breakthrough film was Khiladi (1991), which released a month after Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander.

In an interview to Mid Day, Akshay said, “Apna screen test diya maine (I gave my screen test) for Deepak Tijori’s role. And they didn’t like it. And, apparently, I was crap, so they removed me.” Aamir had already established himself as a leading actor with films such as Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Dil, Raakh, and Dil Hai Ki Manta Hai Nahin.

Akshay Kumar has earlier spoken about his early days of struggle and that he signed his first three films as a lucky stroke. He said that he had missed his modelling assignment  and later in the day visited a make-up artist, who worked in producers Pramod Chakravorty’s film company. The producer liked his portfolio and, “Much to my surprise, he gave me my first cheque, signed me up for three films, immediately. Right away. He gave me a cheque of ₹ 5,000, for the first film, ₹ 50,000, for second film, and the third cheque had ₹ 1.5 lakh on it. It would have been a disaster, if I would have gone to Bangalore (for the modelling assignment). Today, I would be a retired model somewhere. So yes, whatever happens is for the good.”

Akshay Kumar has several films in the pipeline, including Bell Bottom and Sooryavanshi.