Aamir Khan defends romancing Fatima Sana Shaikh in Thugs after playing her father

Actor Aamir Khan shared that he had no issues playing the role of a lover in ‘Thugs Of Hindostan’ opposite his co-star Fatima Sana Shaikh. The actor was speaking in an interview when he said Vijay Krishna Acharya (the director) offered to remove the romantic angle between them since Shaikh had played his daughter in ‘Dangal’. However, the 60-year-old said he didn’t mind playing Shaikh’s lover because he only played her father in a film, not in real-life.

In a conversation with Lallantop, Khan revealed that the director had said, “We won’t have a romantic track between you and her because she was your daughter in ‘Dangal’. How can she play your girlfriend here? Audience will reject this.”

To this, the actor responded, “I don’t believe in all of this. Main asal mein thode uska baap hun, aur na asal mein main uska boyfriend hun. Hum log film bana rahe hain bhai (I am not her father in real life, and neither am I her boyfriend in real life. We are making a movie).”

The ‘Thugs of Hindostan’ actor further gave the example of veteran actors Amitabh Bachchan and Waheeda Rehman, who have played mother-son and lovers in films. He also said, “The audience is not this stupid that they will think that he is the actual father. We are underestimating our audience if we say that.”

The actor also shared that Fatima was signed for the film after all the top female actors refused. “When we were casting for it, no other female actor said yes to this part. Deepika, Alia, Shraddha – they all refused. That film was offered to the entire industry but no one wanted to do it,” he said, further admitting that a weak script could have been the reason for their refusal.

Khan also said the original script never got made as the film kept changing. He recalled being shocked after getting a call from film producer Aditya Chopra, stating that it was a brilliant film.

“I told them I didn’t understand it and, at first, they thought I was joking. I told them this wouldn’t work for a day,” he said. The actor added that he would fight with them every day that they have made the film all wrong, teeling them that it was structurally incorrect.

‘Thugs of Hindostan’ opened with a thunderous response at the box office on the first day of its release. However, it struggled to find audiences after receiving poor reviews.

Aamir Khan was recently seen in the film ‘Sitaare Zameen Par’ alongside actor Genelia Deshmukh. The film has crossed Rs 100 crore mark at the box office.