Muzaffar Ali wanted Big B, Naseeruddin for his 'Jaanisaar' role

"Umrao Jaan" director Muzaffar Ali is all set to exhibit his acting skills in his directorial "Jaanisaar", but he has revealed that he was earlier planning to cast Amitabh Bachchan and Naseeruddin Shah for the role, which eventually he did himself.

"According to the demand of the script, there was a need of a person who somewhat resembled me. We were thinking about Naseer and Amitabh, but both of them didn't have the time. That's according to us, but according to them, we would have perhaps got their time only after two years," Ali said here.

Ali says his son Shaad prompted him to do the film. "My son told me that I should do the role. I told him that if you'll be around, then I'll do it and eventually I did it," he said.

He even quipped that he "committed a mistake" by agreeing to act in the film.

"If you look at my character, you'll find that the character is extremely exciting. He is a person who has experienced 1857 and he has noticed how there was a corpse hanging on every tree. He realised that for this revolt, not just aggression, but consciousness was also required.

"He's trying to keep alive the fire while also becoming an inspiration for the girl (Pernia Qureshi), and he is aware of all the secrets associated with this boy (Imran Abbas) which gets revealed in the end," Ali said of his character.

The scenes featuring the director have been helmed by his son Shaad, who has earlier directed "Saathiya". "Jaanisaar" is releasing on August 7.