Aamir Khan overstepped his boundaries and complained to Mahesh Bhatt about Anupam Kher's acting: ‘Mere andar ka NSD ka gold medalist jaag gaya'

Indian Express

5 days ago

Actor Anupam Kher looked back on an altercation that he had with Aamir Khan on the set of Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin, the 1993 film they worked on together, with director Mahesh Bhatt at the helm. The film also starred Pooja Bhatt, and was released when Aamir was on the cusp of superstardom. In a recent interview, Anupam suggested that Aamir stepped out of line when he complained about his performance to Bhatt, 'even though he was just an actor' on the film. Bhatt didn't keep the complaint to himself, which further fuelled tension on set. This was when Anupam unleashed his inner drama school gold medalist, and rejected Aamir's suggestion.
In an interview with Siddharth Kannan, he said, 'He wasn't upset with me, he disliked my interpretation of the climax scene. I play a man who tells his daughter to abandon her to-be husband and run away from the 'mandap'. In my imagination, only a man who is not in his senses would make such a suggestion, so I decided to play the scene comedically. Aamir didn't like it, apparently. So, he went and complained to Bhatt saab even though he was just an actor like me.'
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Anupam continued, 'Bhatt saab told me what Aamir had said, and that's when mere andar ka National School of Drama ka gold medalist jaag gaya (my inner drama school gold medalist was unleashed). I asked Bhatt saab, 'You're okay with my performance?' He said he is, so I told him, 'Then let's continue as we were'.'
In the same interview, he also spoke about an incident at a press conference, where he was heard telling Bhatt to leave. Anupam explained that there can never be any differences between them, because he considers Bhatt to be a father figure. He said that Bhatt was hungry, and that he was merely telling him to go get lunch. 'He is too important for me to disrespect him like that,' he said.
In an earlier interview with Times Now, Anupam had spoken about the altercation, adding that Aamir was upset with him for the entire duration of the shoot. 'I was fully ready to portray it, but Aamir complained to Mahesh Bhatt saab about my interpretation. He found it wrong and different. Bhatt saab added fuel to the matter and told me about Aamir's comment. I used an English phrase for Aamir Khan to shut him down,' he said, adding, 'Aamir was upset with me throughout the film. He was at that stage of becoming Aamir Khan, which he wanted to become. All my love for him.'