Actor Manoj Bajpayee was offered the role of Chunnilal in filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas (2002) starring Shah Rukh Khan, but he turned it down before the role went to actor Jackie Shroff. Bajpayee admits that he regrets not taking it up back then.

Recalling the conversation he had with Bhansali when the role came his way, he told YouTuber Sushant Sinha, “I was offered Jackie Shroff’s role in Devdas, but I immediately said no. I said, ‘Sanjay, yaar, meri toh hamesha se ichchha thi Devdas [ka role] karne ki. That film became a superhit and I regret letting it (the offer) go.”

The actor added, “I wanted to play Devdas since my theatre days, ever since I had watched (late actor) Dilip Kumar’s film.”