India, June 21 -- In 2012, Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone and Diana Penty made audiences laugh and cry with their romantic comedy Cocktail. Over the years, Deepika's character Veronica went on to become one of the most iconic female characters in modern Bollywood. Now, in an interview with Variety India, Saif has revealed that actors including Ranbir Kapoor and Imran Khan had turned down the film before he eventually came on board.

Saif recalled that while Diana and Deepika had already been finalised for the project, the makers were struggling to find an actor to play the male lead. According to him, the challenge may have stemmed from the fact that Veronica's role was the most attractive part in the script.

He said, "They had Deepika ...