Mahesh Bhatt's action drama Naam proved to be a turning point in Sanjay Dutt's career. Before the 1986 film, Sanjay Dutt fought drug addiction and he wanted a film to prove himself again in Bollywood. After Naam, Sanjay gained lost stardom, and never looked back.
However, this is interesting to know that Sanjay was never the first choice for the film. Recently, filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt revealed that before Sanjay Dutt, another superstar was approached for the film, and he was also interested in the film. While speaking to Radio Nasha, Mahesh Bhatt spoke about his admiration for writer Salim Khan and revealed interesting trivia about the film.
He said, "I loved Naam especially because I worked with Salim Khan sir, he was an extraordinary limb of that film. He was going through a lean phase due to the Salim-Javed split and was looking for a film that could get him that kind of acclaim. Rajendra Kumar sahab decided to make this film, Sanju (Sanjay Dutt) had returned from the US after getting rid of his drug addiction and he had that hunger because he felt he had let his father down, so he wanted to prove himself.
When all authentic needs are met, something great happens. The major locomotive of Naam was Salim sahab.” Before Sanjay Dutt, who was the original choice for Naam As per the media reports, Mahesh Bhatt revealed that when Mushir-Riaz was producing Naam, Dilip Kumar was approached for the film.
"We had reached very close to having Dilip Kumarji on board. Mushir-Riaz (prod.