Aamir Khan maintains that he keeps the film above his character every time he analyzes and gives his nod to a project. “For me, what character I’m playing comes secondary,” Aamir said in the recently held Screen Academy Masterclass at Whistling Woods International in Mumbai. “So, when I say yes to Dangal, it’s because I love the script. It’s a great story with all parts having wonderful stuff to do. Then I focus on my character, Mahavir. But I haven’t said yes to the film because kya character hai Mahavir ka (what a character Mahavir is!),” he added.
Dangal (2016), helmed by Nitesh Tiwari, starred Aamir as a retired wrestler Mahavir Phogat who trains his young daughters to follow in his footsteps. Backed by Aamir Khan Productions, it’s still the highest grossing Indian film ever at the worldwide box office, having surpassed the unprecedented Rs 2000 crore mark.
Aamir Khan on why he did Thugs of Hindostan
Aamir Khan further revealed that there has been only one instance, when he gave precedence to his character over the story, but it “bounced very badly” — Vijay Krishna Acharya’s 2018 period action adventure film Thugs of Hindostan. “Thugs of Hindostan has a very normal story. It’s Sholay,” pointed out Aamir, comparing his debacle to Ramesh Sippy’s 1975 blockbuster cult classic.
“In Sholay, you have Sanjeev Kumar’s Thakur, who needs to take revenge for his family being wiped out. And two people come in and help him — Jai (Amitabh Bachchan) and Veeru (Dharmendra). Over here, it’s Zafira (Fatima Sana Shaikh) whose family gets wiped out. She needs help, and Firangi (Aamir) comes in,” explained Aamir. “It’s a very similar format. So, Jai and Veeru are the heroes of the film, but it’s not their story. It’s Thakur’s story. Similarly, it’s not Firangi’s story. It’s Zafira’s story. So, in terms of its formula, it was more similar to a film like Sholay,” added the actor.
But Aamir Khan laments that they never ended up making Thugs of Hindostan as it was originally scripted. “For casting reasons, we kept changing the script. I wouldn’t know I’d do a fundamental error, but sab se hota hai (it happens with everyone). We should not have changed the script even if we didn’t get the casting we wanted. So, when you’ve seen Thugs, you haven’t seen the original script that Victor (Acharya) had written because it went through a lot of changes,” revealed Aamir.
He also confessed that while he found the story of Thugs of Hindostan to be okay, it was his character that really fascinated him. “Firangi is such an unreliable character. You don’t know when he’s speaking the truth and when he’s not. He’s only about himself. I found him to be a very attractive and engaging character. He’s got some great moments,” said Aamir at the Screen Academy Masterclass, held in partnership with Lodha Academy and Sivasailam Foundation.
Aamir’s earlier claims about Thugs of Hindostan
This wasn’t the first time Aamir Khan underlined the flaws of Thugs of Hindostan. Last year, he revealed that since a lot of time has passed since the film’s release, he could now explain the real reason behind it bombing. “When the film was made, Adi (Aditya Chopra, producer) and Victor really liked it, the way it was made, but I didn’t like it at all,” he said in a chat on Zee Music Company’s YouTube channel.
Story continues below this ad
“I felt that structurally, we went wrong with the writing, and I tried to tell them about it, but they were confident that the film is good. I tried to convince them for around eight months, but ultimately, they are the director and producer, so whatever they decision they took, I accepted it because I have to follow what they are saying,” Aamir argued.
“I know this won’t work, and I believe if I don’t like it, why should I expect the audience to like it? So when Thugs didn’t work, I didn’t feel bad because I didn’t like it too,” Aamir said.
In another interview, Aamir pointed out the casting issue with the character of Zafira, which was turned down by a number of lead actors.
Fatima Sana Shaikh and Aamir Khan in Thugs of Hindostan.
“When we were casting for it, no other female actor said yes to this part. Deepika (Padukone), Alia (Bhatt), Shraddha (Kapoor), they all refused. That film was offered to the entire industry, but no one wanted to do it,” he said, admitting that the character being poorly written could be the reason behind that. Even before Aamir’s casting, Hrithik Roshan, who was initially going to play Firangi, asked producer Aditya Chopra to make changes to the script, including to Zafira’s role.
Story continues below this ad
Aamir then revealed that while Chopra and Acharya liked Fatima Sana Shaikh’s audition for Zafira, they chopped off their romantic track. They argued, “We won’t have a romantic track between you and her because she was your daughter in Dangal, how can she play your girlfriend here? Audience will reject this.” Aamir replied, “I don’t believe in all of this. Main asal mein thode uska baap hun, aur na asal mein main uska boyfriend hun. Hum log film bana rahe hain bhai (I am not her father in real life, and neither am I her boyfriend in real life. We are making a movie). Audience is not this stupid that they will think that he is the actual father. We are underestimating our audience if we say that.”
That casting issue snowballed into the film going through multiple changes at the fundamental level. While Aditya Chopra found the first cut “brilliant”, Aamir Khan expressed his reservations as he found it to be “really bad.”.”I told them I didn’t understand it and at first, they thought I was joking. I told them this won’t work for a day,” he said. For the next six to eight months, Aamir would “fight with them every day that we have made it all wrong. This is structurally incorrect.”
Also Read — Amitabh Bachchan says he’s spending sleepless nights at 83: ‘Work is more important than sleep’
He also had a contention with the film’s “extremely misleading” title, but had to submit to Chopra, who wanted to make a film on the lines of Johnny Depp-starrer blockbuster Hollywood action adventure franchise Pirates of the Caribbean. After the Rs 300 crore film could barely recover losses, Aamir took full responsibility of the failure at the time of release.
