The film marked the comeback of director Mansoor Khan after a hiatus of five years.
Josh was written by Neeraj Vora and Aatish Kapadia, based on the story by Mansoor KhanDirector Mansoor Khan was initially considering Salman Khan for the role of Max Dias, but things didn't work out as Salman did not want to play Aishwarya Rai's brother.Mansoor Khan has revealed he was keen on bringing Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan together for Josh, but the latter rejected the film.Aamir Khan was apparently offered the role of Rahul Sharma.Shah Rukh Khan sung the song 'Apun Bola' himself.Shah Rukh Khan wore blue contacts in the film in order to look more like his on-screen sister Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in the film.The movie was in the making for four years.The movie had few plot points inspired by the 1961 Hollywood movie West Side Story.Puneet Vashist, who played the role of Michael, has since claimed that his screentime, as well as that of fellow actors Aishwarya Rai, Sharad Kapoor & Chandrachur Singh, was reduced in editing by SRK.Vashist even claimed that almost fifty percent of his scenes were cut out from the final cut.Chandrachur Singh broke his shoulder during the film.Aishwarya Rai Bachchan wore minimal make-up and tanned her skin in order to look the part of a Goan.Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was asked to sing the female portions in 'Apun Bola,' but she did not feel comfortable and was replaced by Goan singer Hema Sardesai.Kajol was the original choice for the role of Shirley Dias, the role played by Aishwarya, but the former rejected the offer.Manisha Koirala was then offered the role, but she also opted out.Saif Ali Khan was first offered the role of Chandrachur Singh but his dates could not be worked out.Rani Mukherjee was initially signed for Priya Gill's role - SRK's girlfriend in the film - but opted out once Aamir Khan left the film.Puru Rajkumar was offered Sharad Kapoor's role at one point. Due to an argument with Mansoor Khan, he left the film.Josh was the last film that Mansoor Khan made.The only film of Mansoor Khan with Sharukh Khan and Ayshwarya Rai.For the SRK song (which the actor sung himself), Mansoor Khan was given the option of Apun Bola (which was in Josh) or Aati Kya Khandala (from the film Slave,1998). Aati Kya ended up as the bigger hitSharad Kapoor was praised for his role as Prakash. He even got many award nominations for best villain.AR Rahman was first signed in as the music composer, but he opted out due to scheduling conflicts with other filmsAfter Rahman opted out, Mansoor Khan roped in Anu Malik to complete the music fast, and release the film on time.The song 'Hai Mera Dil' is based on 'Sealed with a Kiss' written by Peter Udell and Gary Geld, and 'Djobi Djoba' performed by Gipsy KingsThe Conquest of Paradise was the base theme of The song ' Haare Haare' .'Haare Haare' was remixed in the album Bollywood Breaks Vol. 1 by Hunterz, Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik.Josh was the last film Nasir Hussein Khan had worked for, which was not for his production, Nasir Saab wrote the dialogues for the film.Mansoor Khan stated he was worried with Chandrachur Singh's bad box office run in 1999. He knew it was affecting the film in the distribution trade.The chorus part Sailaro Sailare from the title song was inspired from the song Spiderman Spiderman.The film is different from The Nasir Hussein type of films.Josh had a theatrical release in Canada.