Aamir Khan has often spoken about his 2022 film Laal Singh Chadha, the official remake of the Hollywood hit Forrest Gump. It was his passion project, but the movie failed to impress audiences in India. In a recent chat, Khan revealed that he initially wanted his son Junaid to play the titular role. He said they even shot several scenes with Junaid as part of his test.
Aamir Khan made Junaid test his acting with Laal Singh Chaddha
In a conversation on JioHotstar, Aamir said he was curious to see what his son had learned during his acting course in Los Angeles. “I loved the script of Forrest Gump, we were very excited about it. At that time, Junaid had just completed his acting course in LA. He came back quite experienced and I thought, let me see what he has learned.”
Khan then told director Advait Chandan to film some scenes with Junaid so he could test both his son’s acting ability and Advait’s filmmaking skills.
“So I told Advait, take 7–8 scenes of Laal Singh and give it to Junaid. I want to see what he has learnt, but the test really is for you because I want to see whether you can helm a film like this… You don’t direct me, you direct Junaid. I want to see how you do that.”
Aamir Khan on how he reacted to Junaid`s performance
Aamir revealed that Junaid surprised him with his performance. “He shot about 20 minutes of film, two–three difficult scenes that we picked. When I saw it for the first time, I was shocked, Junaid was so good.”
However, Khan was unsure if his admiration came from personal bias. Hence, he played the test footage for family members and industry insiders. “I asked Kiran, is it father’s love coming out? Kiran said no, he is good. I showed it to my family, Mansoor. He said, Aamir, you should take Junaid, you should not do this film. He is Laal.”
“Then I showed it to other people in the industry… almost everyone said he is really good, he is really fitting the part. He should do the part.”
With the feedback, Khan was convinced that his son should play the lead. “To be quite honest, as an actor, once I saw him doing it, I found Laal. So then I was like, if he is Laal, how am I to play Laal?”
Despite being convinced, the final call was for him to play the role. “Ultimately, for various reasons, we didn’t go with Junaid. One of the main reasons was because the head of the studio in LA, Jim, was a little unsure. I think he might have felt I am trying to push my son. He said we have signed this deal with you as the lead and we would like that to remain that way.”
“The kind of person I am, I don’t like to force my decision… so I respected his decision,” he said.