Meet actor, who was once Aamir, Shah Rukh's rival, never became superstar, worked as hotel manager, is now...

The 1990 musical blockbuster Aashiqui marked the debut of its leading pair, Rahul Roy and Anu Aggarwal, and made them superstars. The Mahesh Bhatt directorial was also the first film of Deepak Tijori, who went on to play supporting roles in various hit films in the 1990s, and is now working as a director in the Hindi film industry.

Before starting his career in Bollywood, Deepak worked as a front office manager in Hotel Searock in Mumbai. When he decided to become an actor, he sat outside offices of production companies for three years and gave multiple auditions. He even came close to bagging Maine Pyar Kiya, which was the beakthrough of Salman Khan. 

In an interview with Bollywood Hungama in 2022, Deepak said, "Salman Khan and I both auditioned for Maine Pyar Kiya. Sooraj Barjatya later told me that after watching the rushes, the Barjatya family decided to go ahead with Salman Khan. Salman and I were the only two people who were competing for the role of Prem, neck-to-neck They had even told me that if they selected me, they’d like to change my name on the screen and discussed how they’d like to launch me."

Deepak's most famous supporting roles came in the 1992 film Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, in which he played Aamir Khan's rival in the inter-school cycling championship, and the 1994 film Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, in which he was Shah Rukh Khan's rival and gets married to the heroine Suchitra Krishnamurthy in the climax.

The 1993 thriller Pehla Nasha, which was Deepak's first film as a leading hero, flopped at the box office, and he never became a superstar himself. He turned to direction and made films such as Tom, Dick, and Harry, Oops!, and Do Lafzon Ki Kahani, which flopped at the box office. His most recent release is Tipppsy, which hit the theatres on May 10.

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