Alaipayuthey (2000) written and directed by Mani Ratnam is one of those modern Tamil classics that enjoys a cult following 25 years down the lane. The film gave actor Madhavan his first big break, and his onscreen chemistry with Shalini is looked back with fondness to date.
Post its runaway success, Alaipayuthey was remade in Hindi as Saathiya (2002) by director Shaad Ali. Saathiya starred Vivek Oberoi and Rani Mukherjee in the lead, and repeated AR Rahman for music. Mani Ratnam has now revealed that Alaipayuthey was originally written for Shah Rukh Khan, and Kajol who incidentally happens to be Rani Mukherjee's first cousin.
Speaking at the G5A retrospective event in Mumbai, Mani Ratnam on January 25, 2025 (Saturday) stated, "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. Alai Payuthey is built around one day and we keep going back to that one day, when the accident happens and the wife is missing, he (the lead actor) is searching through it. So, that element I didn't have at that point in time. So, we shifted to Dil Se, Once I was finishing Dil Se, I was able to solve this (Alai Payuthey) problem , and I was still interested in doing it (with Shah Rukh and Kajol)."
Dil Se (1998) remains the only Mani Ratnam-Shah Rukh Khan movie, which enjoys a massive cult following for its music by AR Rahman and Hindi lyrics by Gulzar. Kajol and Mani Ratnam never got to work on a film but Mani Ratnam did offer Dil Se to Kajol before Manisha Koirala. The Bollywood actress stated in 2014 that she declined the Mani Ratnam movie for Karan Johar's Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998).
"When Mani Sir offered me Dil Se, it didn't work out for various reasons. He wanted me to give up Karan's film and I was like no (Dil Se's female lead is a suicide bomber as opposed to the less intense Kuch Kuch Hota Hai character) I'm not willing to do that. I would till today love to work with Mani Sir, I think he's a fabulous, fantastic director and I lost out on a chance. But if I had to make the same choice again, I wouldn't have done it any differently." - Kajol on the Look Who's Talking With Niranjan show in 2014