Many actors make a smashing debut in the film industry but struggle to match up to that standard in the next few years and are ultimately left behind. The 90s were a tumultuous time in Bollywood when the younger generation of actors like Shah Rukh Khan , Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar were vying for the best of the lot. Among this crop of talented actors was Armaan Kohli, who was originally offered Deewana.
He was later released on bail. He also made headlines for his relationship with Tanishaa Mukerji . Armaan made a comeback on Television years later with Salman Khan-hosted Bigg Boss 7. He was infamous for his volatile temper on Bigg Boss 7 and was even arrested while on the show after Sofia Hayat filed a complaint against him for hitting her with a mop. He was also arrested for illegal possession of 41 liquor bottles. In 2021, the NCB also arrested him in a drug-related case.
However, as fate would have it, Shah Rukh Khan ended up getting the role that launched his career as a lead star in the industry. Armaan now lives a private life away from the glitz of the film industry. He also occasionally shares his thoughts on his official Instagram account. His last post was on the death of Bollywood icon Dharmendra . It featured a picture of Dharmendra with his father. “Dharam Uncle — you will be missed forever and will always remain in our hearts. And to my father… I miss you so, so much. I still don’t know how to repair my heart without you,” he wrote in the caption.
About his career
If I lost Deewana, Mr Shah Rukh Khan got Deewana, and he’s the superstar of the country. So generally I don’t sit and regret and think about, ‘Oh, I should have done that, if I had done that then this would have happened’. I wish I had thought that way. I would have been somewhere else, for sure. I’m pretty okay with that. “Armaan Kohli is responsible for me being a star. He featured on the Deewana poster with late Divya Bharti. I still have that poster.
The son of filmmaker Rajkumar Kohli and actress Nishi, Armaan started his career as a child actor in his father’s films like Badle Ki Agni (1982) and Raaj Tilak (1984). He then went on to make his debut as a lead in Virodhi (1992), directed by his father. Anaam (1992), and Aulad Ke Dushman (1993), Armaan struggled to maintain a streak of success Although he starred in several other films like Dushman Zamana (1992). Armaan in a 2015 interview spoke about not doing the film, and how he has no regrets. Shah Rukh even admitted in an appearance on the show Yaaron Ki Baraat in 2016 that he owes his career to Armaan, who even featured on a poster for Deewana before Shah Rukh replaced him at the last minute after Armaan had shot a schedule for the film.
Asked if he looks back and wonders if life would’ve been different if he’d done Deewana, he told Bollywood Hungama, “If we start thinking about the past and what we could’ve done, our life will be hell. But, as I said, there is no regret. Thank you for making me a star,” Shah Rukh said.
