"I’ve taken time to absorb the grief."
Aamir Khan has opened up on the failure of Laal Singh Chaddha (2022).
While several other people, including Kiran Rao and Kareena Kapoor, addressed the debacle of the film, leading man and producer Aamir stayed quiet for a long time.
The film was an official adaptation of the 1994 classic Forrest Gump. The Oscar-winning film starred Tom Hanks as the titular character.
Laal Singh Chaddha was written by actor Atul Kulkarni who pitched the script to Aamir in 2008. It took Aamir and his team nine years to obtain the rights to remake Forrest Gump.
Advait Chandan, who previously collaborated with Aamir in Secret Superstar (2017), directed the film.
When filming finally began, the crew also had to face the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The movie ultimately released on August 11, 2022, after several delays.
The film was heavily criticised for its screenplay and Aamir’s performance, with many comparing his act to Dhoom 3 (2013) and PK (2014).
Aamir Khan spoke about the disastrous box office performance. He also explained what happened in the aftermath of the flop.
He stated: “Advait, Kareena and the whole cast and crew worked hard and it didn’t do well.
“Two things happened, after a long time my film didn’t work, so family and friends would come home to ask me if I’m doing okay.
“I realised that I’m getting a lot of love after a flop. That was the funny side of it.
“The serious side is, failure teaches you where you’ve made mistakes.
“It gives you an opportunity to understand what those mistakes were.
“I gave it a lot of thought, it was a big learning for me.
“I remember telling Kiran once, ‘I made so many mistakes in this film on so many levels. Thank God I made these mistakes in just one film’.
“Emotionally, I’m hurt that the film has not worked. I’ve taken time to absorb the grief.”
Aamir Khan’s ex-wife Kiran Rao worked as a producer on Laal Singh Chaddha. In a recent interview, she said that Aamir was deeply affected by the poor performance of the film
She expressed: “It is really disheartening when you put in all the efforts, and it doesn’t work, which happened with Laal Singh Chaddha.
“It definitely affected Aamir quite deeply, it affected all of us.
“It was a project that had seen a lot, done the Covid rollercoaster and had been a dream project for Aamir.
“He had been working to get the rights of the film for a decade before we made it. It was disappointing.”
Kiran added that she was pleased with the response the film received on Netflix.
She continued: “I am really happy that people are responding well on social media, because I do feel the film didn’t get as much of a chance but it didn’t work.
“We do have to accept the fact that people didn’t like it or didn’t want to see it.”
“After having a big box office disaster, [Aamir] needed that time to recalibrate, to see where he had gone wrong.
“He is one of those people who won’t go out being bitter but will be like, ‘I will step away first and reassess what I am doing wrong and what I really want to be doing next’.
“This renewed Aamir is now producing six films. So clearly the time off was useful and productive.”
The actor is currently producing Kiran’s directorial Laapataa Ladies and Rajkumar Santoshi’s Lahore, 1947.
Aamir Khan is also busy filming his next acting project Sitaare Zameen Par.
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