Ajay Devgn and not Prabhas was director Om Raut’s first choice for Lord Rama’s role in Adipurush. The project was planned when Raut was directing Devgan in Tanhaji .
Apparently it was Devgan who suggested Prabhas’s name as a better option, as Devgan was way too busy to handle a project as big as the Ramayan.
Interestingly, this was not the first occasion when Devgan came close to playing Lord Rama on screen. Way back in 2007, the close Devgan collaborator Raj Kumar Santoshi had planned the Ramayan with Ajay Devgan as Rama and Kajol as Sita.At that point of time Devgan was very keen to play Rama and was surprised that Santoshi had thought of him to play Rama.
Sadly, like many of Santoshi’s projects, this one too never went beyond a plan.