Watching three greatest actors of Bollywood in one film seems to be impossible in nowadays. But do you know we could have witnessed three iconic stars – Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan in Subhash Ghai’s film titled Motherland. In a recent interview Showman, Subhash Ghai revealed that he wanted to cast the three great actors in his war film. He even completed the film script and recorded three songs but at the last moment, Shah Rukh backed out from the film. “In 2003, I wanted to start a war film called Mother Land, where I had cast Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan. The script was ready and three songs were also recorded, but at the last minute Shah Rukh backed out.”
He also explained that Shah Rukh Khan was keen on doing a solo hero film that’s why his dream project Motherland never took off. “He (Shah Rukh) felt there are so many characters in the film. He wanted to do a solo hero film then, but mine was not. It was a story of Dilip saab, Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh. On my wish list were also Aishwarya Rai, Priety Zinta and Mahima Chaudhry for the film but that’s destiny.” (Also Read: 10 years of Om Shanti Om: 10 memorable dialogues from Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone’s blockbuster)
Though Motherland didn’t take off, Subhash Ghai had planned another film with Shah Rukh Khan titled Shikhar. But that also got shelved. “Before Pardes, I had designed a film called Shikhar, starring Jackie Shroff and Shah Rukh, where we were to cast a new girl. It was a love story with a war backdrop. We had done our muhurat too and recorded a song after signing A R Rahman.” But interestingly that song was included in Subhash Ghai’s musical drama Taal. “‘Ishq bina kya jeena yaaro’ was a song from Shikhar (which eventually became one of the most popular songs from his Taal).”