Smita-Parveen, the original choice for Silsila: Yash Chopra

Veteran filmmaker Yash Chopra has revealed that he had earlier chosen to cast actors Smita Patil and Parveen Babi alongside Amitabh Bachchan, instead of Jaya Bachchan and Rekha for his 1981 hit film Silsila.

Veteran filmmaker Yash Chopra has revealed that he had earlier chosen to cast actors Smita Patil and Parveen Babi alongside Amitabh Bachchan, instead of Jaya Bachchan and Rekha for his 1981 hit film Silsila.

On the occasion of his 80th birthday on Thursday (September 27), Chopra — while talking to actor Shah Rukh Khan — disclosed that both Smita and Parveen had signed the film.

“I had signed both Smita Patil and Parveen Babi and both of them were to start shooting. Smita was to do the role played by Jaya Bachchan and Parveen that of Rekha. I went to meet Amitji and spoke to him about the film,” Chopra said.

“It was Amitji who asked me if I was happy... content with the casting (Smita, Parveen and Amitabh) and do I feel it is the ideal casting. I told him I wanted to cast him, Jayaji and Rekha. He took a long pause and told me that he was fine with the decision but asked me to convince the two actresses,” added Chopra.

Chopra revealed that while Parveen was fine with being dropped from the film, Smita was hurt, mainly because the filmmaker had asked his actor friend Shashi Kapoor to pass the bad news to Smita.

Eventually, apart from starring Amitabh, Jaya and Rekha, the romantic hit also featured actors Sanjeev Kumar and Kulbhushan Kharbanda, with Shashi Kapoor in a special appearance.