Dilemma of a Superstar
Bollywood actor Aamir Khan took time off during the lock-down to read through the script of the Subhash Kapoor directed film 'Mogul'. Khan who was shooting for 'Laal Singh Chaddha' before the lock-down took place has not gone through any other fresh idea during this time as he understands that it will take a long while for things to get back to normal and he would rather read a script closer to when it can be made in the new normal.
It has to be noted that Akshay Kumar was the one who was first signed for the film, but he backed out over several differences. Aamir stepped into his place.
“Aamir is a one film person. Hardly has he multitasked in the past many years – but has only been working on his look, his physique and conditioning his mind to work on the film in hard. And that is the case with Laal Singh Chaddha too which he has been working on for a year plus now. He still has the film in mind and read a few parts of Kapoor’s updated script of Mogul,” says an industry source.
Aamir had signed on the film initially also as a producer with Bhushan Kumar which is a biopic on the life of the late music baron Gulshan Kumar and one of the most important projects from the T Series banner. Aamir had worked in the Gulshan Kumar backed film 'Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin' with Pooja Bhatt.
But following allegations of sexual harassment during the #MeToo movement against Kapoor in October 2018 by actres Geetika Tyagi, Khan decided to opt out of the film, stating, “Without casting any aspersions on anyone involved in this case, and without coming to any conclusions about these specific, allegations, we have decided to step away from this film.”
Eleven months later in September 2019, Aamir said that he was back in the film and that helped greenlight Kapoor’s next project with Richa Chaddha - a film called Madam Chief Minister – ostensibly on the life of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati.
“I couldn’t sleep at night because I used to constantly feel that my actions have inadvertently caused a person, about whose guilt I have absolutely no idea, to lose his right to work and earn a livelihood.” Aamir mentioned then.
Aamir stepping back into the project did not go down really well with a lot of people who were voicing out the victims of the #MeToo movement in India. Aamir, incidentally, has stayed away from working with his frequent collaborator - Rajkumar Hirani after the #MeToo movement – a man who gave him some of his biggest hits of his career like '3 Idiots' and 'PK'. Aamir was in discussion, not just with Hirani a few months ago but also with his 'Dangal' director Nitish Tiwari. Aamir has also agreed to do a remake of the film 'Vikram Vedha' in Hindi also starring Saif Ali Khan for 'Baby' and 'Special 26' director Neeraj Pandey.
It is now also being speculated in film circles that the Dangal actor is also talking again with Ronnie Screwvala and Siddharth Roy Kapoor to be back in the Rakesh Sharma biopic – a mission he had aborted to concentrate on his epic 'Mahabharata' series. The Mahabharata series has not taken off at all till now as is another web project on the life of controversial Indian spiritual guru Rajneesh alias Osho. Shah Rukh Khan was to initially step into the suit and he got out of it when his film 'Zero' crashed. So will Aamir pick up the gauntlet again sometime soon?