Did you know? Deepak Tijori lost Maine Pyar Kiya to Salman Khan because of ‘looks’

Can you imagine that Deepak Tijori was supposed to be a part of Maine Pyar Kiya? While Salman Khan immortalized Prem in the movie, the role was originally offered to Deepak. He lost to Salman because of ‘looks.’

Deepak told Bollywood Hungama that director Sooraj Barjatya rejected him over his ‘looks.’ Not just the filmmaker but even the women at his home picked Salman over Deepak. “He explained why we are going for Salman Khan is because the women of the family, they have adored Salman’s looks more than you,” the actor explained.

Since Maine Pyar Kiya was a romantic story, Sooraj wanted to pick a man with looks, Deepak shared. He felt that the movie was ‘totally justified.’

Deepak never had a problem with Salman bagging the role over him. This is despite the film’s success till date. Even today, Maine Pyar Kiya is an iconic film and Salman-Bhagyashree’s chemistry is one of the most-spoken-about. The movie actually established Salman as Prem in the 90s.

Deepak feels that his career might not have actually taken a turn had he bagged Maine Pyar Kiya. He feels like he couldn’t have been Prem and thus, Salman was the ‘perfect choice.’

If not Prem, Deepak felt that it would’ve been easier to play the role of Jeevan, played by Mohnish Behl. His character delivered the legendary line, “Ek ladka aur ek ladki kabhi dost nahi ho sakte.”

Apart from Maine Pyar Kiya, Deepak Tijori was offered a role in Abbas-Mustan’s Baazigar. He deeply regrets losing that role to Shah Rukh Khan. The movie was inspired by A Kiss Before Dying. Deepak came up with the idea of making the film but ultimately, Abbas-Mustan cast SRK and promised to ‘compensate’ Deepak. Like you can already guess, that never happened.