British actor Daniel Craig needs no introduction as he is one of the most recognizable action heroes the world over thanks to him playing superspy James Bond 007 in four blockbuster films. He is also one of the highest-paid actors in the business.

A surprising bit of news has surfaced that Daniel Craig actually auditioned for an antagonist role in the pan Indian blockbuster cult classic 'Rang De Basanti' which was released in the year 2006. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra the director of the film has revealed the interesting details in his biography "The Stranger in the Mirror".

Mehra has stated "Executive producers Alice Patten and Steven Mackintosh called actors to test for the parts of Sue and James McKinley, respectively. 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,”

He has added “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,”.

'Rang De Basanti' has a strong Tamil connection as A.R. Rahman is the music director and Madhavan and Siddharth played key roles in it. The film has Aamir Khan and Soha Ali Khan in the lead roles with Sharman Joshi, Atul Kulkarni and Kunal Kapoor in supporting roles.