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Bollywood actor Mita Vashisht, who worked with Aamir Khan In her 1998 hit film Ghulam, she recalled her experience working with the superstar and shared how his tag of “Mr. Perfectionist” prevented them from getting along on the set. Mita explained that coming from a theatre background, she is used to improvising every scene. However, Aamir is the exact opposite as he prefers to plan everything in advance. Their different working styles created an awkward equation between them on the set of the film.
Speaking to The Lallantop, she said, “Aamir and I are very different actors. He likes to plan everything. Ghulam was initially being directed by Mahesh Bhatt. During the first reading of the film, Mahesh told us that we will do this scene like this and I told him yes, we can improvise it. Aamir looked at me and said, ‘Improvise’. He didn’t like that word.”
Mita did not like Aamir telling her how to perform a scene and expressed her feelings to the actor freely. “There was a scene in the film where he was taking out money and giving it to me. Then he was telling me that when I do this, you do this. I was like, ‘No. Do whatever you have to do, I will do whatever I have to do.’ He was like, ‘How am I supposed to know what you are going to do?’ and I was like, ‘Look at me and react.’ He wanted everything to be pre-arranged and I was like, ‘Why should you tell me what to do?’” she said.
Using another scene as an example, Mita spoke about the caste system prevalent in Hindi cinema, which still exists today, and how commercial stars perceive themselves as superior. She said, “In another scene, I am talking to him when I reached out and ruffled his hair. So, the first time I ruffled his hair, he didn’t like it. I immediately understood his mindset of ‘Hath kaise laga dia mujh (How did he touch me?)’. He looked at Mahesh questioning my gesture, but Mahesh took my side and said, ‘I don’t know what he did, but it was beautiful. ’ There was a difference between commercial actors and arthouse film actors, especially during those days.” Mita also expressed that Aamir might not have felt bad about her touching his hair if she was a commercial actress too.
Mita revealed that work on Ghulam was halted for a year and a half due to the incident as it was believed that Aamir’s brand value was not high enough, and the film underwent a lot of changes. By the time the film resumed, Pooja Bhatt had stopped acting and Rani Mukerji joined as lead actor.Mahesh Bhatt also stepped down as director and Vikram Bhatt took his place.
After the cast change, Aamir and Mita had to reshoot the scene where she ruffles his hair, but this time Mita refrained from doing it as she was afraid of Aamir Khan’s reaction. She said, “I had that annoyance from the last shoot. So, this time when we were performing that scene I didn’t touch his hair and Aamir kept waiting. Then he asked me, ‘Didn’t you do that?’ I told him that it felt bad last time so I avoided it this time, and he immediately said, ‘No, no, please do it. ’”
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First uploaded on: 29-07-2024 at 16:06 IST
