JD Majethia reveals they were suggested to cast Amitabh Bachchan as Babuji, Paresh Rawal as Praful in ‘Khichdi: The movie’, but he felt, ‘public maaregi’ Filmymeet

‘Khichdi‘ is one of the most popular television shows ever. Made by JD Majethia, every character on the show became a household name – right from Hansa, Praful, Jayshree to Babuji and Hemanshu (played by JD himself). Supriya Pathak played Hansa while Vandana Pathak played Jayshree. Meanwhile, Rajeev Mehta played Praful and Anang Desai played Babuji.But do you know that when JD was making this tv show into a film, he was suggested to cast some bigger names. The show and movie were directed by Aatish Kapadia while JD was the producer.
Revealing the kind of suggestions he was given, JD Majethia said during a chat with Radio Nasha, “When we were making the movie for Khichdi, we were speaking to many people about it so one of the big directors and even the studio told us that the script is great. They said when you are bringing it from TV to film, you make this comedy with stars. We were given the suggestion that we should take Amitabh Bachchan for Babuji’s role, and Paresh Rawal for Praful’s role. We only thought about it and never took it to them.”
The producer did think about it, but then realised that it’s not going to be a good idea. JD added, “We kept thinking about it. But then we realsied that ‘public maaregi (audience will hate us)’. They have suggested it and we are making a proposal with this. If someone treats Amit ji the way we treat Babuji on the show… Amitabh Bachchan is such a respected actor, star, human being, personality, visionary, he inspires crores of people.”
‘Khichdi’ had another installment releasing in the form of a film last year. It was titled, ‘Khichdi 2: Mission Paanthukistan’.