Can you picture Baazigar without Kajol? Well, Nadeem-Shravan, a music composer pair, wanted the actor out of Abbas-Mustan’s 1993 smash love drama. In an interview with Radio Nasha, the director duo discussed how Nadeem-Shravan walked out because they refused to remove Kajol from the picture. Abbas-Mustan first approached Nadeem-Shravan about composing music for Baazigar. This came a few years after their first hit, Mahesh Bhatt’s 1990 romantic musical Aashiqui. However, Abbas-Mustan had a condition in mind for the director duo. “Nadeem-Shravan had some personal issue with Kajol and Tanuja ji (Kajol’s mother). They asked us if we can change the female lead. We refused because we had already committed to her. We had finalised Kajol and she had also signed the contract. We refused to make any changes. Picture banega toh Kajol toh rahegi hi (If the film will be made, Kajol will star in it). They responded to this by saying, ‘Toh hum nahi rahege (Then we will not do the film),” Mustan recalled. Nadeem-Shravan wanted to take Kajol under their wing following the success of her 1992 debut film, Bekhudi, for which they composed the music. However, during a visit to her home, they were taken aback by her mother and veteran actor Tanuja’s behaviour. They chose not to work with Kajol again.
