There is no denying the fact that Bollywood is the hub of skills and looks, and for many, it is the ultimate destination. By nurturing tons of cult classics, the Bollywood industry has cornered the global cinema scene and has been attracting actors from other film industries. The year 2022 is going to witness the Bollywood debut of many south Indian actors. While some already made their debut and some are waiting for that, there also have been a number of South Indians who turned down offers from Bollywood filmmakers. Today, here we bring you a list of the top 10 Bollywood actors who refused to work in Bollywood movies.
1. Mahesh Babu: With delivering cult classics one after another, Mahesh Babu owns the throne of the Prince of Tollywood. Back in time, Mahesh got a chance to showcase his performance in the Bollywood industry with movies like Wanted and Ek: The Power of One. But the actor turned it down saying that he has no intentions of entering the Bollywood industry.
2. Yash: The Kannada actor who has now become a global sensation with the success of his movie KGF 2, rocking star Yash was approached by the Bollywood filmmakers to play the lead in Laal Kaptaan. But the actor declined it as he didn’t find the story that appealing and the role ultimately went in the hands of Saif Ali Khan.
3. Allu Arjun: You will be shocked to know that Salman Khan was not the first choice of Kabir Khan for the role of Pawan Kumar Chaturvedi in Bajrangi Bhaijaan. Initially, Kabir Khan approached Allu Arjun for the role but following his busy schedule, he chose to let it go.
4. Rashmika Mandanna: When the Hindi version of Jersey was announced by the makers, the only name they had in mind for playing the lead opposite Shahid Kapoor was of Rashmika Madanna. But she turned it down saying, currently she is working more in commercial movies and Jersey seems too realistic which will take a lot out of her.
5. Puneeth Rajkumar: After Allu Arjun, the role of Pawan in Bajrangi Bhaijaan, went to late Kannada superstar Puneeth Rajkumar. but he refused to take on the role as he was reportedly unsatisfied with the script.
6. Anushka Shetty: One of the most celebrated and richest south Indian actresses Anushka Shetty got national fame after her performance in Bahubali. But she would have got this fame much earlier when Rohit Shetty offered the lead role opposite Ajay Devgn, in his cop drama named Singham.
7. Fahadh Faasil: Faasil had also said that he has been getting offers from Bollywood. He said he might take up a role when he feels confident enough to be a part of the industry. He believes that he is only getting good roles because of Malayalam films and he would forever be thankful to Mollywood for that.
8. Nayanthara: We all are still shaking our legs on Chennai Express’ superhit song One Two Three Four. The performance of Priyamani in the song made it more attractive. But earlier South Indian actress Nayanthara was approached to share the screen with Shah Rukh Khan.
9. Nivin Pauly: Malayali actor Nivin Pauly had maintained that he won't be comfortable doing films in Tamil, Telugu, or Hindi, but at the same time, he said that he would want to push himself by crossing boundaries. Pauly was reportedly supposed to do a film with Anurag Kashyap. His picture with the filmmaker went viral on social media when the rumors started to float across.
10. Darshan: The charming star of the Kannada film industry was offered the role of antagonist in Salman Khan starrer Dabangg 3. The film then went into Sudeep's kitty.
