Pradeep Rawat, known for his portrayal of the villain in the Aamir Khan-led movie ‘Ghajini,’ shared insights about director AR Murugadoss’s original choice to cast Salman Khan in the successful film. Despite being a remake of Murugadoss’s Tamil movie with the same title, Pradeep expressed concerns about Salman’s reputed short temper potentially leading to complications that the director might struggle to manage effectively.
In an interview with Siddharth Kannan, Pradeep revealed details into the film’s production process, stating, “Murugadoss used to keep saying ‘I want to make it in Hindi, I want to make it in Hindi.” Pradeep also mentioned the director’s admiration for Salman Khan and his strong desire to cast him in the movie’s remake.
Despite this, Pradeep believed that Salman was not the ideal fit for the role. He explained, “I thought in my mind ‘Salman is short-tempered and Murugdoss doesn’t speak in English or Hindi. He didn’t even have a personality back then.’”
Drawing from his experiences working with Aamir in movies such as ‘Sarfarosh,’ Pradeep concluded that Aamir’s composed demeanor made him a better-suited choice for the role. He shared, “I thought Aamir would be the right choice for the role because he was cool-tempered and behaves respectfully with everyone. In the past 25 years, I have not seen Aamir shout or yell at anyone. He has never disrespected anyone or used abusive language. So I thought, nature-wise, Salman cannot be handled or there would be unnecessary complications.”
Adding on, Pradeep commented, “Aamir sharif hai but chalak bohot hai. Bohot hoshiyaar hai (Aamir may be innocent, but he is very clever and intelligent)” Despite six months of pursuit, Aamir watched the film and promptly agreed to be part of it.
A.R. Murugadoss’s Ghajini was a super hit. It starred Aamir Khan and Asin in lead roles. The strong and gripping storyline with major twists and the actor’s stellar performance earned accolades from viewers and critics. It is a Hindi remake of a Tamil movie of the same name. The Tamil version starred Suriya, Asin and Nayanthara.
