Not Saif Ali Khan, but THIS handsome Pakistani hunk was the FIRST choice for Kaalakaandi, reveals director

Saif Ali Khan's Kaalankaandi trailer was released a few days back and it got a positive response by the audience but this role could have been played by someone else. Who?

"Fawad Khan was supposed to be one of the actors we talked to when the project was with UTV. It was around 2013... He was going to play the role Saif plays. But ultimately everything happens for a reason and for the best. No one could have done the role better than Saif," director Akshat Verma said in an interview.

The movie revolves around six characters from different worlds of Mumbai in a span of 12 hours and how the lives of complete strangers intersect.

Talking about Saif, Akshat said: "When I first messaged Saif, I didn't get a reply from him. When I finally met him, it was almost two years to the date I had texted him, and I still have the message saved. This time, he had read the script because Ashi (Dua, one of the producers) had sent it to him. He said 'ok we are on' in five minutes. So the time period was, on one hand two years and on the other, just five minutes to get Saif."

Produced by Cinestaan Film Company and Ashi Dua Sara of Flying Unicorn, the film stars Saif along with Deepak Dobriyal, Vijay Raaz, Kunaal Roy Kapoor, Sobhita Dhulipala, Akshay Oberoi, Isha Talwar, Shenaz Treasury, Shivam Patil, Amyra Dastur and Neil Bhoopalam.

Talking about dark comedy, his earlier film Delhi Belly and how people sometimes don't understand such genres, Akshat said: "Often people say they enjoy the script, love it, but (it is) not enough to make it as a film. It is like breaking up with someone by saying 'I love you but not enough to marry you.'"