Not Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan; these two actors were Ram Gopal Varma's first choice for Sarkar but...

Directed by Ram Gopal Varma, the 2005 political crime thriller Sarkar featured Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan in the leading roles of Subhash Nagre aka Sarkar and Shankar Nagre. The film became a cult classic over the years and also led to two sequels, Sarkar Raj in 2008 and Sarkar 3 in 2017.

In a recent interview, Ram Gopal Varma revealed that Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan were not the first choice for Sarkar, from which he had taken inspiration from the 1972 Hollywood epic The Godfather. The filmmaker shared that he had planned a film Nayak in 1993 with Naseeruddin Shah and Sanjay Dutt, but since Dutt was arrested in the 1993 Bombay blasts case, he shelved that film and later made it Sarkar with the two Bachchans.

Talking to Pinkvilla, Ram Gopal Varma said, "Yes, Sanjay was supposed to play Abhishek’s role, and Naseeruddin Shah was meant to play Amitabh’s role. Since Nayak didn’t happen, Sarkar was made. If I had made Nayak, regardless of its performance, I would have never made Sarkar. Eventually, Nayak was shelved, and the title was dropped. It was a lovely title, but the project never materialised. Years later, I finally made it as Sarkar."

"Sanjay got arrested while I was making a film called Nayak. While waiting for him to be released, I made the action comedy Anaganaga Oka Roju (1996) in Telugu, which became a super hit. Since that film was successful, when Sanjay Dutt came out, we decided to make an action comedy instead of a political film. Thus, I made Daud (1997), which didn’t work at the box office", he further added.

Amitabh Bachchan's daughter-in-law and Abhishek Bachchan's wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan played a pivotal role in the sequel Sarkar Raj, which was also commercially successful as the first part. Sarkar Raj, the third installment in the political thriller franchise, flopped at the box office.