July 28, 2021: Director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra has revealed that the famous James Bond starrer Daniel Craig auditioned for the role of James McKinley in Rang De Basanti. But when the actor was approached for the role of James Bond, he requested for some time.

Rakeysh, in his recently released autobiography, mentioned that after Daniel auditioned for Rang De Basanti and was his first choice for the role but he was approached for the role of James Bond, so the actor requested some time from him.

Rakeysh wrote, "I remember vividly that one of the people who auditioned for the part of James McKinley, the young jailor who walks Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev to be hanged, was none other than current James Bond, Daniel Craig."

The filmmaker further mentioned that Daniel was his first choice for the role. He wrote, "Daniel Craig was my first choice but he requested if we could allow some time as he was also being considered to be the next James Bond. The rest, as they say, is history."

Ultimately, actor Steven Mackintosh played the role of James McKinley.

Rakeysh shared many of his life experiences in his autobiography, The Stranger In The Mirror, which is co-written by Reeta Ramamurthy Gupta. Rakeysh has been in news for his recent film Toofaan, starring Farhan Akhtar.

Rang De Basanti was released in 2006 and starred Aamir Khan, Siddharth, Atul Kulkarni, Kunal Kapoor, Soha Ali Khan, Sharman Joshi, and others. Daniel Craig debuted as James Bond in the same year with Casino Royale. He has played the iconic British spy in four other films -- Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, Spectre, and the soon-to-be-released No Time to Die.