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Danny Boyle saw Taal and offered me Slumdog Millionaire: Anil Kapoor 

On 23 years of Taal, Anil has recalled how the film helped him catch Danny Boyle's attention

CE Features

Subhash Ghai's Taal clocks 23 years today. Released in 1999, the romantic drama starred Anil Kapoor, Akshaye Khanna and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Noted for its performances and musical sequences, Taal drew considerable attention overseas, becoming a box-office hit and played at late film critic Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival in 2005 (Ebert had also reviewed the film in an earlier piece). 

In a social media post on the film's anniversary, Anil Kapoor shared a set of pictures from Taal and even dropped some interesting trivia. According to Anil, the role of his character (a rich music producer named Vikrant Kapoor) was initially offered to Govinda. Anil also shared that British director Danny Boyle saw Taal and approached him for Slumdog Millionaire (2008). 

Anil wrote, "23 years of Taal! I will forever be grateful to have been a part of this iconic movie. In many ways, I was destined to do it, as my role was first offered to Govinda but ultimately came to me. It was Taal that Danny Boyle saw and my performance in it that made him offer me Slumdog Millionaire, I thank my lucky stars for the love and support of the phenomenally talented showman @subhashghai1 saab and for 4 hugely successful milestone films with him."

The soundtrack of Taal was composed by AR Rahman with lyrics by Anand Bakshi. According to director Subhash Ghai, it was Rahman's work that inspired the film's title, meaning beat or music. 

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