When Ranbir Kapoor offered Imtiaz Ali to make Rockstar with him

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As best described in Ranbir Kapoor’s words – He offered Imtiaz Ali to make Rockstar with him. Call it destiny, perfect casting or the power of Imtiaz Ali’s storytelling, Ranbir Kapoor was drawn towards the film from day one. When Imtiaz  Ali thought of making Rockstar, Ranbir Kapoor had not entered the glamour world as the leading actor. It was planned to be made with another actor. Imtiaz Ali wrote the film even before Jab We Met and had approached AR Rahman for music. Mr. Rahman had already started working on the music of this epic film. But due to unforeseen circumstances, the project came to a standstill. During the time of Love Aaj Kal, Imtiaz Ali met Ranbir Kapoor few times casually, and he happened to offer a film to him which was not Rockstar. However, the offered film didn’t excite the young Kapoor so much. While Imtiaz Ali was leaving from the meeting, Ranbir out of curiosity asked him about Rockstar. It was before Ranbir started shooting for Saawariya that he had heard about the concept of Rockstar from a friend. It excited him from that very moment and he grabbed the opportunity to inquire about it directly from the filmmaker. While Imtiaz said that he is no longer working on Rockstar but he wanted to know about Ranbir’s information on the film and hence kept pushing him to share what he knows about the film. Basically the tables turned and Ranbir was giving a narration to Imtiaz Ali on Rockstar on whatever he knew of the film. Gauging the passion and interest level of the actor, it pushed the director to give another shot to his ambitious project. Three months later, Imtiaz Ali came to the talented actor with a new script of the same Rockstar.  The acclaimed director never referred back to his old draft, he rewrote it from scratch as the concept was inked in his mind. This draft was more organic and relatable. Ranbir immediately hopped onto it and marked the beginning of this cult film. Casting of Nargis Fakri was also not less than any destiny tale. While Imtiaz Ali was looking for a girl, not particularly a newcomer, but a face that can make the handsome Ranbir Kapoor look like he doesn’t deserve to be with this ultimate beauty as the film revolved around a guy who wants to go through a heartbreak so that he can became a musician. One of the crew member of the film, pulled our Nargis’s photo from the internet,  Imtiaz used the print out of the image as reference picture while looking out for girls to be cast opposite Ranbir Kapoor. However, due to some or the other reason, it didn’t materialize with anyone else. On a recce in Prague and knowing that Nargis was in Europe too, they planned a meeting, cut to Nargis being the muse for this ultimate Rockstar. The casting of this film is nothing short of any film drama, looks like the roles in the film called out to their respective artists justifying the words from the film – ‘Sadda Haq’.  The film helped these stars in adding a rocking credit to their slate of films with the magnificent - Rockstar.

Source: Talking films with Imtiaz Ali, Making of Rockstar and ETC Bollywood Business with Ranbir Kapoor