The 2000 Mani Ratnam film ‘Alai Payuthey’ starring R Madhavan and Shalini emerged as a hit upon release. Subsequently, Shaad Ali adapted the title in Hindi with Vivek Oberoi and Rani Mukherjee. The film was titled ‘Saathiya.’ Recently, the ace filmmaker revealed that he initially wanted to cast SRK and Kajol in the original film. However, the collaboration didn’t materialise as Ratnam was yet to decide a climax. Resultantly, he and Bollywood’s Badshah collaborated on ‘Dil Se.’

During the G5A Retrospective, the legendary filmmaker made the revelation about the film. He said, “What I had planned to do with Shah Rukh was Alai Payuthey. I wanted to do it with Shah Rukh and Kajol and I told him the story and he agreed. But I had not cracked the last element of the story. If you’ve seen Alai Payuthey it is built around one day. And we keep going back to that one day. And when the accident happens and the wife is missing, and he is searching through it. So, that element I didn’t have it at that point in time. So, we shifted to Dil Se.”

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Mani Ratnam revealed that it was while making ‘Dil Se’ with SRK and Manisha Koirala, that he came up with ‘Alai Payuthey’s climax. “Once I was finishing Dil Se, I was able to solve this problem (with Alai Payuthey). I was still interested in doing it.” Moreover, the ‘Bombay’ director also weighed in on the Bollywood remake of the film. He noted that every film goes through various stages during its making. “You are never sure you got it correct. You are still trying. Even when you’ve written fully, when you shoot, you are looking for something more because it is still getting constructed.”

Madhavan and Shalini’s ‘Alai Payuthey’ focused on a couple who elope to tie the knot. However, things take a pivotal turn after their marriage starts encountering problems.

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Meanwhile, SRK is currently gearing for his next, ‘King.’ The film reunites him with ‘Pathan’ director, Sidharth Anand. The title also stars Suhana Khan and Abhishek Bachchan. On the other hand, Kajol last played a cop in Netflix’s thriller ‘Do Patti.’ The film starred Kriti Sanon in a dual role. Moving ahead, Madhavan’s latest film, ‘Hisaab Barabar’ recently released on Zee 5. Going forward, his plate is full with back-to-back releases.