Ad filmmaker Prahlad Kakkar recently revealed in an interview that he chose Aamir Khan over Shah Rukh Khan for an ad that he was shooting as he felt that Shah Rukh didn’t have a clean image at that time. Prahlad said that he decided to cast Aamir in the ad even when he was charging thrice the amount quoted by Shah Rukh.

During a conversation with Vickey Lalwani, Prahlad said, “Aamir was charging some 17 lakhs and Shah Rukh was only charging 6 Lakh at that time. And why Shah Rukh was charging 6 Lakh was also because he was short of 6 Lakh for buying his house (Mannat). So, he said, I am short of 6 Lakh, you give me and I will do the ad. So, I said he is not right for the film. I wanted someone who had the image of an actor. Money was not my concern.”

Prahlad said that Aamir agreed to do the ad after six months of negotiations. “The image that Aamir had with Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak was an innocent boy next door. Just a nice, clean boy. And that’s what I needed for the ad film. And Shah Rukh was there but he didn’t have such a clean image. Because his first film was Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman. Or something like that. And the character that he played was not as squeaky clean as the character that Aamir played," Prahlad said.

Aamir was recently seen in Sitaare Zameen Par which was released in theatres earlier this year. The film was an adaptation of the Spanish sports-drama film, Champions and a spiritual successor to Taare Zameen Par.

Shah Rukh had three releases in 2023 including, Pathaan, Jawan and Dunki. The actor will be seen next in the actioner, King, which is being helmed by Siddharth Anand and also stars Suhana Khan, Abhishek Bachchan and Deepika Padukone in pivotal roles.