Jugal Hansraj was supposed to be launched by Manmohan Desai.
Jugal Hansraj made his debut as a child actor in Shekhar Kapur’s 1983 family drama Masoom. He went on to appear in many films as a child actor, before making his debut as a lead actor in Hamid Ali Khan’s 1994 romantic thriller Aa Gale Lag Ja. In a new interview, Hansraj revealed his launch as a lead actor was initially supposed to be backed by late legendary filmmaker Manmohan Desai.
“I’d signed two films three years before Aa Gale Lag Ja. The first two didn’t take off. This was the third one,” recalled Hansraj. The first film he signed was produced by Manmohan Desai and directed by his son Ketan Desai. “It was a huge deal for me because I’m a huge fan (of Manmohan Desai). When I got a call from his office, I first thought it’d be for a young version of Amitabh Bachchan’s character or something. Why would they call me? I just went there as a fan of Manmohan Desai wanting to meet me,” he added.
When they met, Manmohan Desai just asked Jugal Hansraj a few questions before offering him the film. “He said I’m making a film like Raj Kapoor’s Bobby (1973) with an 18-year-old-guy and a 16-year-old girl. I was just turning 18,” Hansraj told Pinkvilla. Bobby, a blockbuster, served as the launchpad for Raj Kapoor’s son Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia.
However, Desai’s film didn’t take off for one and a half years. “Immediately after that, Pahlaj Nihalani signed me. He was quite a prolific producer at that time. I think he’d signed Rageshwari opposite me, who was then cast in Aankhen (1993). But that film also didn’t start for one and a half years. Then Aa Gale Lag Ja started within a week, from the phone call to starting shooting. So quick,” recalled Hansraj.
The actor confessed it was “tough” to deal with the initial setbacks at that age. He recalled it was his childhood friend and filmmaker Karan Johar who broke it to him that Manmohan Desai was making another film instead of the one he offered Hansraj. The Kuch Kuch Hota Hai director was privy to that information since his father, producer Yash Johar, was close to Manmohan Desai. “At least he thought I was good enough to do a solo lead. Then he called me and told me. He was very sweet. I’m just happy I got to meet him,” said Hansraj.
The road after Aa Gale Lag Ja wasn’t smooth either as some 30-40 films with him as the lead actor also got shelved. “It’s been a constant in my life that a commitment keeps falling through. It’s not the case that the film gets made with someone else, but the film gets shelved every time. I’m talking about big producers of that time, not some new people. But you can’t get angry because it was because of circumstances beyond your control. Then what can you do? You just move on.”
Jugal Hansraj eventually got another breakthrough with Aditya Chopra’s 2000 hit romantic drama Mohabbatein, in which he played a second lead to Shah Rukh Khan. His image of a “chocolate boy” from that film also cost him a lot of diverse offers. “It was a bother because I always got those roles of a shy boy-next-door who can’t confess his love to a girl. I started getting the other offers very recently with Sujoy Ghosh’s Kahaani 2 (2016). The roles being written and coming my way are very interesting today. I’m enjoying that very much,” said Hansraj.
He confessed it’s “normal” to feel “stuck” when his films wouldn’t take off. “At that time, there were only two-three types of films being made. There were the action films with Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar, or Suniel Shetty. Then there were the romantic films split into the flirty Saif Ali Khan ones and the shy ones which I was doing. So, that was very set. One never thought I’d get offered anything else. I knew I’d get those different roles only once I get older. So, I enjoyed what I was getting then,” recalled Hansraj.
Jugal Hansraj was most recently seen in Raj & DK’s espionage show The Family Man season 3 on Amazon Prime Video India. He’s also entered his ‘sweet dad’ era, playing a father to Rohit Saraf in Akarsh Khurana’s Netflix young adult show Mismatched and to Ibrahim Ali Khan in Shauna Gautam’s Netflix romantic comedy Nadaaniyan earlier this year.