Aamir Khan’s long-in-the-making Laal Singh Chaddha, is finally on the way to the big screen. After the pandemic threw a spanner in the movie’s works, the makers have finally wrapped up the shoot and will release it on Valentine’s Day next year.
Also featuring Kareena Kapoor Khan and Mona Singh in pivotal roles, the movie is an official adaptation of the Hollywood blockbuster Forrest Gump, which starred Tom Hanks. The Advait Chandan directorial is backed by Viacom18 Studios, Paramount Pictures, and Aamir Khan Productions.
Laal Singh Chaddha encapsulates five decades of the eponymous lead character’s life essayed by Aamir. The script was originally adapted by Aamir’s Rang De Basanti co-star Atul Kulkarni way back in 2008. However, getting the perfectionist to greenlight the project wasn’t an easy task. “He took some time to hear the script, but when he did after two years, his nod came immediately. Though we had to wait for a long time before the rights came to him,” admits Atul.
The movie has been making headlines ever since it was announced, and all eyes are on Aamir. So, does that put Atul under pressure? “I am not a writer. I have not worked in that medium much as a writer. I have done just one film. No doubt it is a very big and important film,” Atul says.
Since its making was delayed quite a few times, sources close to the project claim the script had to be tweaked to make it more relevant to the current times. “There is so much material in the film — from the Emergency in the 1970s to Operation Bluestar and the Cricket World Cup victory in 1983 to the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government coming into power and the Kargil War in the late 1990s, among others. The idea was to ensure that several generations of the audience could relate to the film,” inform sources.
While it is known that Shah Rukh Khan will be seen in a cameo in the movie, we are told that King Khan plays an actor, and Aamir had wielded the megaphone for his scene only. “Aamir will be seen in a younger look during that scene hobnobbing with SRK on the set,” adds the source.
Aamir, who is known to go the extra mile to get into the skin of the character, left no stone unturned to give his best to the movie. The Dangal actor will be seen as an athlete in the film, apart from playing table tennis.
“They shot several scenes in a stadium in Noida and at a lot of landmark locations around the country where Aamir is seen running. While he had put on weight and grown a beard for the initial part, he spent five months each putting on and losing weight for both his looks in the film,” reveals a source.
