Laal Singh Chaddha is finally up for release after several delays and hurdles in the last few years. Aamir Khan reunited with Secret Superstar director Advait Chandan for the Hindi remake of the Hollywood movie Forrest Gump. Ahead of the release, Aamir revealed that he wanted to star his son Junaid in the titular role and he also shot a test video.
Laal Singh Chaddha being a tough film, the Dangal actor was not confident in Advait. To hand over the project to him Aamir asked him to build his own crew and shoot a pilot. The actor suggested the director to cast his son in the test video. “It became a test for both of them that way,” he said. This was the time when Aamir Khan’s son Junaid auditioned for the lead role in the film.
Khan then shared his reaction after seeing his son acting for the first time. He said: “As soon as I saw the test video, I was blown away. I knew mera chance gaya (I thought my chance has gone). That innocence of Laal that we were planning to get was out there while I would have to act it out. 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. Junaid was simply outstanding and I felt he was the right guy to play the part.”
He added: “I showed the film to close to 100 people including my family, friends and colleagues from Raju Hirani, Karan Johar to Aditya Chopra, and 98 felt that I should take him.”
However, the scriptwriter of the film, Atul Kulkarni and Aditya Chopra were adamant that Aamir should do the film instead. “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. So when the discussions came back around, I started to grow my beard again,” the actor said.
Aamir further added that he got inspired by his son’s performance in the test video. He said: “I didn’t expect him to be better than me. I got influenced by Junaid and got the sur to act. His scenes from the test video were my inspiration for the film. I observed his eyes and took the character from there. This is the journey of how I actually became Laal Singh Chaddha.”
The drama-comedy movie stars Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, and Mona Singh in pivotal roles. Directed by Advait Chandan and produced by Aamir Khan Productions, Viacom 18, and Paramount Pictures. The film is coming to cinemas on 11th August with Akshay Kumar’s Raksha Bandhan.
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