Aamir Khan’s Time Machine was offered to Karan Johar: ‘He quoted Rs 25 lakh’ | Bollywood News

6 min readNew DelhiJul 21, 2026 10:39 AM Following the blockbuster success of Mr India (1987), widely regarded as one of India’s most celebrated sci-fi films, Kapur tried to make a desi Back to the Future called Time Machine, with Aamir Khan in the lead role. However, the film was shelved midway. Recently, Aamir recalled shooting for the film at the 25th anniversary of Lagaan when he shared the stage with veteran actor Rekha, who was also a part of the movie. Time Machine was written Karan Razdan, who had previously shared that after the film was shelved, they made many attempts to revive the project with makers like Karan Johar, Firoz Nadiadwala, Manmohan Shetty, Ramesh Taurani, but nothing worked out.
Karan Johar offered Rs 25 lakh for Time Machine
In an old interview with Bollywood Hungama, Karan Razdan claimed that Karan Johar “quoted a ridiculously low price” for the script. He recalled that at this time, actor Jugal Hansraj was heading the story department at Dharma Productions and it was Shekhar who suggested that Karan must take his script to the production house. Shekhar had worked with Jugal in the film Masoom. “I told Jugal that I will give the narration. But Jugal said that it won’t be possible as Karan likes to read the script. Then I was told that I’ll be offered Rs 25 lakhs. I was shocked. Sona kharidne aaye ho ya pital kharidne aaye ho? Yeh toh samjho ki kya de raha hoon main aapko? (Are you buying gold or brass? Understand what I am offering you).”
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In the same chat, Razdan shared that he was offended that Johar did not display “basic courtesy” as he did not even see him in person. He added that he met Firoz Nadiadwala at Rakesh Roshan’s house, where Hrithik Roshan was present throughout the narration. “Firoz Nadiadwala wanted to make it. I gave a whole narration in Guddu ji’s (Rakesh Roshan) house. Hrithik was also there. But the matter couldn’t be taken forward as they didn’t know who should direct it. Shekhar had made it clear that since I was involved as a writer, I shouldn’t direct as the team would need my inputs in writing.”
Time Machine took Aamir Khan’s character to Mahabharat era
Karan Razdan shared that the film had Aamir Khan travelling back in time, to the era of Mahabharat, where he witnesses the battle being fought in Kurukshetra. “The character doesn’t know how to operate the time machine. He takes off with the machine. He lands in the past. When he wakes up, he hears sounds of war. He looks down and sees a fierce battle going on. Lord Krishna happens to see him. The protagon asks the lord, ‘What is happening?’ Lord Krishna replies, ‘Mahabharat is being fought.’ He is astonished, ‘Oh, this is Mahabharat!’.”
In a recent chat with News 18, Aamir had shared that adapting Mahabharat for the big screen is his dream project. “That’s my dream, let’s see if it becomes a reality one day. I really would love to have the opportunity to do that, but it is a big responsibility. Indians are so strongly connected, it is in our blood,” he said.
Aamir Khan has said that adapting Mahabharat is his dream project. (Photo: Screen/YouTube)
Time Machine turned into Love Story 2050
Karan Razdan had also said that it was his script for Time Machine that became the base for Harman Baweja’s much-discussed film debut Love Story 2050, which starred Priyanka Chopra. “I had written Time Machine for Shekhar Kapur, which starred Aamir Khan. That was the base for Love Story 2050. It was 60 percent shot and then got shelved. Many years later, Harry told me he wanted to launch his son, Harman, and expressed the desire to make a film similar to Time Machine. But instead of the past, the character would travel in the future,” he said.Story continues below this ad
In an earlier video shared Lehren Retro, preumably from the making of Time Machine, Aamir Khan described the film as a “sci-fi fantasy movie like Mr India.” He also shared that Naseeruddin Shah and Rekha were to play his parents in the film. Shekhar had said, “Time Machine is the story of an orphan who wants to know about his parents. So, a scient makes a machine for him through which he can travel in time and meet his parents. I planned to make it like a musical and make it a mix of the music of the 60s and the 90s.”
‘Back To The Future with an Indian touch’
In a 2021 interview, the film’s art director Bijon Das Gupta shared with Cinestaan that the film was “Back To The Future with an Indian touch.” He shared that the film got shelved because of financial troubles. “Unfortunately, the producers ran into problems. So they could not go any further. I told Shekhar, ‘You take over the project, let’s give it to somebody else for production.’ But the time it got there, there was a backlog of money the producers owed for various things. The film became the casualty.”

Previously, Gulshan Grover had shared a still from the making of the film, and revealed that Raveena Tandon was to play the lead role with Aamir in the film.