However,Lawrence D'Souza said that his first choices where Salman Khan, Aamir Khan and Madhuri Dixit.Sanjay Dutt was not first choice for the role.Interestingly Lawrence D's Souza had earlier approached Aamir Khan for the role.Infact Aamir Khan shooted for some days for the Saajan but later he opted out of the film as he feels his character was no heroic compared to Salman (Aakash) and Salman Khan's character was having more screen-time and songs compared to his role. 

Dutt wasn’t hesitant to accept the film despite his character being lame and not heroic. “At that time, he had 2-3 hit action films. So, he was ready to do an emotional role.” D’Souza considers Aamir’s refusal a blessing in disguise. “The character perfectly suited him. I personally feel Aamir wouldn’t have fitted this much. As they say, whatever happens, happens for the good,” he said. 

This is how it became Salman and Dutt’s first film together. D’Souza informs that they mostly had fun on the sets. “They used to do masti masti masti the full day. This is how we shot. Even seconds before shooting a serious scene, they used to indulge in a lot of laughter. But the next moment they would shoot the scene seriously. Even I enjoyed shooting the film because of them.”