Aamir Khan on Fatima Shaikh’s lover role in ‘Thugs of Hindostan’ after playing her ‘strict’ dad in Dangal

Aamir Khan, often praised for his strong script sense, has opened up about what went wrong with ‘Thugs of Hindostan’, a big-budget film that failed to connect with audiences despite its star-studded cast and grand scale.

In a candid conversation with ‘The Lallantop’, Aamir revealed that the casting process for the film was tougher than expected.

The female lead role was offered to several top actresses, including Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt, and Shraddha Kapoor, but all of them turned it down.

“No one said yes to the part. That film was offered to the entire industry,” Aamir admitted, adding that the script’s quality may have been a reason for their hesitation.

Eventually, Fatima Sana Shaikh was brought on board. But her casting raised another concern due to her previous role as Aamir’s daughter in Dangal. The director decided to remove a romantic subplot between their characters, fearing audience backlash. Aamir, however, disagreed.

“Main asal mein thode uska baap hun, aur na asal mein main uska boyfriend. Hum log film bana rahe hain bhai,” he said, arguing that the audience is smart enough to separate actors from their previous roles.

Another major issue, Aamir said, was the constantly evolving script. “The film kept changing from its original version. By the end, I didn’t recognise what we had made,” he recalled.

After watching the first cut, producer Aditya Chopra called Aamir excitedly, saying it was a “brilliant film.” But Aamir had a starkly different reaction: “I was shocked. I told them it wouldn’t work, not even for a day.”

Despite his objections, the creative direction remained unchanged.

“I would fight with them every day that we’ve made it all wrong. It’s structurally incorrect,” he said. A major early concept, killing off Amitabh Bachchan’s character at the interval, was eventually scrapped. Aamir revealed he had little control over such choices: “Vijay and Aditya were convinced and didn’t want me to interfere. As the director and producer, the final say was theirs.”

‘Thugs of Hindostan’ was released in 2018, and was one of the most expensive films in Bollywood history, but it received poor reviews and underperformed at the box office.

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