Aamir Khan jokes that Shah Rukh and Salman plotted to end his career with ‘an old, fat man’s role’ in Dangal: ‘Isko buddhe ka role do aur nikalo industry se’ | Bollywood News
Even after nine years, Aamir Khan’s Dangal remains the highest-grossing Hindi film of all time. However, in a recent interaction, Aamir revealed that he initially rejected the film after hearing the script. The actor even joked with director Nitesh Tiwari that his contemporaries and competitors, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan, might have conspired to end his career offering him the role of a 55-year-old father of four daughters.
Speaking on the YouTube channel Just Too Filmy, Aamir shared that before Dangal, he had starred in Yash Raj Films’ Dhoom 3, which required him to be in peak physical shape. After working hard to achieve a chiseled physique and looking younger than his age, he was reluctant to take on a role that required him to gain significant weight.
Aamir Khan said, “I wouldn’t have done Dangal if I wanted to please the audience. I played an old, fat, grey-haired guy. In fact, I told Nitesh, ‘This is a good story, I want to do it, but I have just done Dhoom 3, and I’m looking tana tan (fit). My body fat is at 9.6%, and now you want me to play a 55-year-old, fat father of four girls?’”
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Aamir jokingly shared how he thought the film was a ploy Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan. “I told Nitesh, ‘Shah Rukh ke aadmi ne bheja hai tum logo ko (Shah Rukh has sent you). I think Salman and Shah Rukh ne bheja hai aapko aur bola hai, isko 60 saal ke buddhe ka role do aur nikalo isko industry se (Shah Rukh and Salman have sent you, asking you to give me the role of a 60-year-old man to end my career).’”
He added, “I wouldn’t have done this film because I was looking young. I even told Nitesh to make it after 10-15 years. He agreed, but the story stayed with me, and then I told him, ‘Nitesh ji, let’s do it, we’ll see what happens.’”
Aamir Khan later admitted that playing a father in Dangal would make him vulnerable in front of the audience, as they would see his reality. “My actual age at that time was 55, so I thought meri asliyat samne aa jayegi (my reality will be exposed). People would think this is the real me, not the Dhoom 3 version. That was my hesitation—it was too close to my real age,” he said.
