David Lagachu
5. Priyanka Chopra
Even though her high profile summer movie ‘Baywatch’ opened to lukewarm response at the box office but that is hardly slowing her down. Right now she is busy filming two Hollywood projects – ‘A Kid Like Jake’ and ‘Isn’t it Romantic’ – and her TV show ‘Quantico’ has been renewed for a third season. So her plan of dominating the world is going just fine. Many people are not aware of the fact that she was offered a significant role in the 2011 Hollywood hit ‘Immortals’. It was directed by Tarsem Singh, a Hollywood director of Indian origin, and when Priyanka refused to be a part of the film due to scheduling problems, her role went to the accessible and more-in-demand Freida Pinto. As an actor it was a wise decision on Priyanka’s part as she wanted to concentrate fully on Vishal Bhardwaj’s film ‘Saat Khoon Maaf’ which gave her ample opportunities to grow as an artiste.
4. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
Aishwarya has starred in a couple of international projects like ‘Bride & Prejudice’ and ‘The Last legion’ to name a few. The responses to her Western films have been mixed at best and even though everyone was unanimous about her magnetic screen presence owing to her undeniable beauty not everyone was convinced about her acting skills, especially those old school film critics who are not used to the Bollywood song and dance routine. Post the moderate success of ‘Bride & prejudice’ she was offered roles in many high profile Hollywood projects like ‘Troy’, ‘Hancock’ and ‘Rush Hour 3’. However she couldn’t accept those roles as she was already committed to other big projects back home. Unfortunately for her the Hollywood films that she did manage to do turned out to be damp squibs at the box office.
3. Shah Rukh Khan
Often referred to as the king of Indian cinema Shah Rukh Khan deserves all the praise in the world. His fan following can put many Hollywood stars to shame. At 51 he still has his magic intact and that reflects in the box office collections of his films. A regular on the list of the highest paid and most influential actors in the world he doesn’t need Hollywood films to expand his stardom. However Hollywood came calling to him in the form of a brief but crucial role in Danny Boyle’s ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. The film was based on Vikas Swarup’s bestselling novel ‘Q & A’ and Khan was offered the role of a game show host which eventually went to an over enthusiastic Anil Kapoor. As to why SRK refused to be a part of the film which went on to win multiple Oscars is not certain but many say it’s because of the length of the role.
2. Dilip Kumar
Long before it became a trend for Bollywood actors to engage their PR teams to be in the lookout for opportunities of working in the West, Hollywood knocked on Dilip Kumar’s doors with a possibility of casting him in a big budget movie. The film was David Lean’s ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ and they wanted to cast Dilip Kumar in the role of Sherif Ali. Although he was not the first choice for the role, the makers were excited with the possibility of casting an Indian actor but Kumar rejected the offer and the role went to Egyptian actor Omar Sharif. But he has no regrets of not doing the film and praised Omar’s portrayal of the role in his autobiography.
1. Irrfan Khan
He is the only actor who is making India proud in the real sense with his choice of Hollywood films that are a runaway hit at the box office and also showcase the actor in him. Be it ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, ‘Life of Pi’ or ‘The Namesake’ he lends a certain amount of dignity to his roles that makes him stand out from the rest. He may not make it to the cover or pages of Hollywood magazines but he demands a certain amount of respect which no other Indian actor can right now boast of. With a burgeoning career in both Bollywood and Hollywood he enjoys the luxury of picking and choosing from among the best of the offers available to an actor. The best of the offers also means that he has to say no to a few of them even if he wants to do all of them. He had the honesty and the audacity to say no to filmmakers like Steven Speilberg (Untitled film), Christopher Nolan (Interstellar) and Ridley Scott (The Martian) among others.
