Aamir Khan has frequently said that he chooses the film as per the script and not only by the character he is playing. In a recent conversation, however, he revealed that there has been only one time when he gave importance to his character over the film’s story and it backfired badly— Vijay Krishna Acharya’s 2018 period action-adventure film Thugs of Hindostan. “Thugs of Hindostan has a very normal story. It’s Sholay,” said Aamir during a masterclass organised by Screen.
“In Sholay, you have Sanjeev Kumar’s Thakur, who needs to take revenge for his family being wiped out. And two people come in and help him — Jai (Amitabh Bachchan) and Veeru (Dharmendra). Over here, it’s Zafira (Fatima Sana Shaikh) whose family gets wiped out. She needs help, and Firangi (Aamir) comes in,” he explained. “It’s a very similar format. So, Jai and Veeru are the heroes of the film, but it’s not their story. It’s Thakur’s story. Similarly, it’s not Firangi’s story. It’s Zafira’s story. So, in terms of its formula, it was more similar to a film like Sholay,” he added.
Aamir also said that they never ended up making Thugs of Hindostan as it was originally scripted. “For casting reasons, we kept changing the script. I wouldn’t know I’d do a fundamental error, but sab se hota hai (it happens with everyone). We should not have changed the script even if we didn’t get the casting we wanted. So, when you’ve seen Thugs, you haven’t seen the original script that Victor (Acharya) had written because it went through a lot of changes,” revealed Aamir.
He also confessed that while he found the story of Thugs of Hindostan to be okay, it was his character that really fascinated him. “Firangi is such an unreliable character. You don’t know when he’s speaking the truth and when he’s not. He’s only about himself. I found him to be a very attractive and engaging character. He’s got some great moments,” said Aamir.
This wasn’t the first time Aamir spoke about the flaws of the film. Last year, he revealed that since a lot of time has passed since the film’s release, he could now explain the real reason behind it bombing. “When the film was made, Adi (Aditya Chopra, producer) and Victor really liked it, the way it was made, but I didn’t like it at all,” he said in a chat on Zee Music Company’s YouTube channel.
“I felt that structurally, we went wrong with the writing, and I tried to tell them about it, but they were confident that the film is good. I tried to convince them for around eight months, but ultimately, they are the director and producer, so whatever they decision they took, I accepted it because I have to follow what they are saying,” Aamir said.
“I know this won’t work, and I believe if I don’t like it, why should I expect the audience to like it? So when Thugs didn’t work, I didn’t feel bad because I didn’t like it too,” he added.
