Aamir Khan on why son Junaid was considered, rejected to play young Laal Singh Chaddha
Actor Aamir Khan's upcoming release Laal Singh Chaddha required the 3 Idiots actor to play a man from different stages in his life. Khan goes from playing at late teen to a middle aged man in the movie also starring Kareena Kapoor Khan. The movie is adapted from 1994's Forrest Gump. In a recent interview with TV9 Bharatvarsh, the actor revealed how his son Junaid almost played Laal Singh in the movie. However, writer Atul Kulkarni had objections. So the PK actor took inspiration from his son to play the character's innocence.
In an interview with TV9 Bharatvarsh, Aamir Khan said, "The biggest challenge for me in this movie was bringing out the innocent act. I was 54 when we started shooting for the film, and I'm 57 years old when it's releasing. You'll see that Laal is middle aged when he's in the train narrating the story, but you see his younger self from college and youth. As a character, I had to be 18 years old. Then 19, 22, 23, 25, 27 and then 28."
On talking about the innocence of the character, Rang De Basanti actor said, "The innocence required for the character was so pure - it was difficult for me to bring out when you've lived so much of life. As an actor, you have to bring out the innocence. This was my biggest struggle. However, a very odd thing helped me out. While my son Junaid returned from the US after learning theatre, we were still waiting to lock Advait as the director for the film."
"We'll test Advait's skills as well as what Junaid has learnt so far at the same time (laughs). After two weeks of rehearsals, they shot the said shots. While Kiran and I were watching the 21 minutes long footages, we were quite shook."
"Junaid, became Laal as he played him. Some actors are skilful, they know their art and perform really well. While the others become the characters they play. Junaid became one." "My confidence was shaken after watching his performance, while I was confident for him." "The innocence on his face was Laal Singh and I would have had to work incredibly hard to get there. I don't have that innocence anymore and he did that naturally. Since he was my son, I showed the clips to Aditya Chopra, Karan Johar, Raju Hirani just to be sure. We must've shown it to around a hundred people from the industry and family. All of those people who were trusted on their taste, sensibility and intelligence where shown the clips. I wanted to know if they also what I was seeing there. Around 98 of those people came forward in full support." "However, Aditya Chopra and Atul Kulkarni, the writer of the movie had objected. They wanted me to play the character. According to them, The story of the Forrest Gump isn't that solid. It's an episodic movie which requires a star. A new actor can't pull this off." "I had grown my beard for 6 months for the role while the screen tests were happening. When we decided Junaid was doing the role, I shaved it off. When the discussions came back around, I started to grow it again." "Finally, Junaid's scenes were my inspiration for the film. I observed his eyes and took the character from there."
Interview link : https://youtu.be/gpjd2wABpOg
Later on Adi Chopra who saw the audition offered a film Maharaja to Junaid. Shooting was completed last year, but release is on hold as Maharaja is a period film and YRF after recent disasters is reluctant to release a film picturized during the 18th century.
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