Ambitious: Aamir Khan wanted to do ‘Dangal’ at 60

Actor was concerned about doing justice to role of older man in upcoming movie

MUMBAI: Actor-producer Aamir Khan, who will be portraying the role of a 55-year-old man in the upcoming Dangal, said that he had wanted to do the film only after he was 60.

“I had this thing in my mind that I will do the film after five or six years, when I will be 60,” he shared in an interview recently. “I was scared that if I play an old man’s role now, tactically, it won’t be right. Then I called Nitesh (Tiwari) and said I want to hear the story again. After that, I decided to leave logic behind and do the film.”

Dangal is an Indian biographical sports drama directed by Nitesh, who has previously made Chillar Party and Bhootnath Returns. The film sees Aamir portraying the role of Mahavir Singh Phogat, who taught his daughters Babita Kumari and Geeta Phogat how to wrestle. Geeta was India’s first female wrestler to win at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, clinching a gold medal, and Babita won a silver.



Revealing the whole story behind his decision, Aamir added, “When I read the story, I just loved it. It made me laugh and cry as the script is very exciting and inspirational. I had the fear that today, when I am still doing young roles, why am I getting into this old man’s role? I had to gain weight and go for grey hair so I was scared about my future and audience,” he said.

The actor plays both the younger and older characters of Phogat in the film. He had put on up to 95kgs to play the older part and is currently in the process of bringing it down to around 70kgs. Aamir, along with other cast members, unveiled the poster of the film recently that shows him sitting with his four on-screen daughters. “The poster narrates the story of the film,” he explained. “It’s about this man and his four daughters. I don’t believe that women have to go easy or reduce their femininity to be strong. Only their hair is short and it’s from a practical point of view of wrestling,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 11^th, 2016.

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