Aamir Khan took time during the lockdown to read through the script of the Subhash Kapoor-directed Mogul.
Khan, who was shooting for Laal Singh Chaddha before the lockdown started, has not gone through any other fresh idea, as he understands that it will take a long while for things to get back to normal, and he would rather read a script closer to when it can be made.
“Aamir is a one-film person. Hardly has he multitasked in the past many years — he works on his looks, his physique, and on conditioning his mind to work on the film in hand. And that is the case with Laal Singh Chaddha too. But he still has the film Mogul in mind and read a few parts of Subhash Kapoor’s updated script,” says an industry source.
Aamir had signed the film initially also as a producer with Bhushan Kumar. It is a biopic of the late music baron Gulshan Kumar and one of the most important projects from the T Series banner.
But following allegations of sexual harassment during the #MeToo movement against Kapoor in October 2018, Khan decided to opt out of the film, stating, “Without casting any aspersions on anyone involved in this case, and without coming to any conclusions about these specific allegations, we have decided to step away from this film.”
Eleven months later, in September 2019, Aamir said that he was back in the film and gave the green light for Kapoor’s next project with Richa Chaddha, a film called Madam Chief Minister — said to be on the life of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati.
“I couldn’t sleep at night because I used to constantly feel that my actions have inadvertently caused a person, about whose guilt I have absolutely no idea, to lose his right to work and earn a livelihood,” Aamir had shared then.
It has to be noted that Akshay Kumar was the one who was first signed for the film, but he backed out over several differences. And Aamir Khan stepped into his place.
