AR Murugadoss wanted another actor to play the lead in the Hindi remake of his Tamil film 'Ghajini'. But Pradeep Rawat convinced him to cast Aamir Khan instead.
Ghajini was the first Hindi film to cross the 100-crore collection mark at the domestic box office. It soon started the trend of 100 crore, 500 crore, and similar box office collection clubs in Bollywood. Ghajini, directed by filmmaker, AR Murugadoss, starred Aamir Khan as the male protagonist. Now actor, Pradeep Rawat, who played the antagonist in the film, revealed that Aamir Khan wasn't the first choice for his role in the superhit film.
Ghajini is a remake of a Tamil film of the same name, directed by AR Murugadoss. When the filmmaker planned on making a Hindi remake of the film, he wanted actor, Salman Khan to play the lead role. This detail was shared by actor, Pradeep Rawat in an interview with Siddharth Kannan. He revealed that he was the one to suggest Aamir due to his calm demeanor for the lead role instead of Salman Khan. He thought that Salman Khan was short-tempered and couldn't be handled or there would be unnecessary complications. Speaking on the incident Pradeep said:
"AR Murugadoss used to keep saying ‘I want to make it (Ghajini) in Hindi, I want to make it in Hindi…' I thought in my mind ‘Salman is short-tempered and Murugadoss doesn’t speak in English or Hindi. He didn’t even have a personality back then. I thought Aamir would be the right choice for the role because he was cool-tempered and behaves respectfully with everyone”
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After working with filmmaker, AR Murugadoss in 2008, Aamir Khan recently shared his experience of working with the director. During his appearance on The Great Indian Kapil Show, Aamir Khan said that he learnt to be a person without any filter from AR Murugadoss. He revealed that the Ghajini filmmaker is without any filter and is open about his thoughts. Recalling a few instances, Aamir shared that AR Murugadoss would clearly express whether he liked a suggestion. He was quoted saying:
“If he doesn’t like the idea, he will say that it is very bad without any hesitation. He doesn’t care if the other person will feel bad. Also, he doesn’t think who he is talking to. Generally, if someone doesn’t like something, they will express it in a subtle manner.”
Previously, AR Murugadoss did not have the opportunity to work with Salman Khan. Interestingly, many years later, Salman Khan has now collaborated with the director on a new film titled Sikandar. It will be the first collaboration between the talented filmmaker and Bollywood's bhaijaan. It is anticipated to be an action film scheduled to be released in theatres during Eid 2025. Sharing the announcement of the film's title in a post on his Instagram handle on April 11, 2024, the actor captioned it saying:
"Iss Eid 'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan' aur 'Maidaan' ko dekho aur agli Eid Sikandar se aa kar Milo. Wish u all Eid Mubarak!"
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AR Murugadoss is a film producer and director who mainly works in the Tamil film industry. He is known for making popular films like Ghajini, 7am Arivu, Thuppakki among others. Currently, he is working on SK23 and Salman Khan starrer Sikandar.
What are your views on the revelations by Pradeep Rawat on the original casting of Ghajini?
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