Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor starrer ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ is slated to hit the silver screens on August 11. The film, an adaptation of Forrest Gump which starred Tom Hanks, is helmed by ‘Secret Superstar' director Advait Chandan. But did you know that there was a point during the pre-production of the film that he wanted his son Junaid Khan to play the lead role?
Ahead of the film’s release, in a chat with selected media, Aamir talked about the project and told that although Advait had done a great job with ‘Secret Superstar’, he was not sure to hand over ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ to him as it was a very tough film. As per the actor, this was also the time that his son Junaid had returned from LA after his training. That’s when Aamir had suggested Advait shot the test video with him. “It became a test for both of them that way,” the ‘Dangal’ quipped with a smile.
However, when he saw Junaid’s test video with former wife Kiran Rao, he was blown away. The proud father added that he saw Laal in his son. “I knew mera chance gaya (My chance was gone). That innocence of Laal was out there while I would have to act it out. 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.”
Despite Aamir’s insistence, actor Atul Kulkarni, the scriptwriter of the film and Aditya Chopra, could not agree with him as they felt a newcomer shouldn’t do the project. “They argued that the film was not plot driven but rather episodic and thus a newcomer shouldn’t do it. After long arguments, I finally bought their reasoning,” the actor mentioned.
Khan, who is also bankrolling the film, concluded by saying that his son’s performance in the test video became the inspiration. “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," Aamir signed off.
