Abhishek Bachchan, who made his acting debut with the 2000 film Refugee, was supposed to start his career with Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Samjhauta Express. The film was also believed to be the debut of director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. However, the film never saw the light of the day as it got shelved three months before its scheduled start date. The filmmaker recently opened up on the heartbreak he felt when his first film didn’t work out.  The film had a highly sensitive subject featuring Abhishek as Pak terrorist with hate for India. The industry thought it was a dark character for Jr. Bachchan to start his career with. 

Appearing on Shiv Talwar’ss YouTube channel, Mehra spoke about his unreleased first film Samjhauta Express. Abhishek Bachchan intended to make his entry in Bollywood with the film co-written by Omprakash Mehra and Kamlesh Pandey. The story followed Abhishek Bachchaan’s angst towards India after his father was falsely accused as a terrorist. He infiltrates India with the aim of freeing his father from prison, but unexpectedly forms a bond with an Indian police officer. In a poignant climax, the police officer is compelled to kill Abhishek’s character, whose body is then sent back to Pakistan on the Samjhauta Express. 

Talking about his directorial debut, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra said, “Samjhauta Express, which I’d written with Kamlesh Pandey, was meant to be my debut film, and Abhishek Bachchan’s debut film. We worked on it for a year, and Abhishek kept a diary in which, every day, he would write what the character thinks. It turned out well, but, as the market said, it was a very sensitive subject.” 

The director further elaborated, “Until there are these dark holes of hatred between our two nations, we will keep filling them up with the bodies of our children. But they will never get filled. The only way we can build a bridge is through love. The industry felt that for Abhishek Bachchan to play a Pakistani terrorist in his first film would be playing with fire, so the intelligent minds decided… The shoot was called off just three months before (it was supposed to start).”