Mumbai: Rajkumar Hirani’s 2018 movie ‘Sanju’ which was a biopic on one of the most controversial Bollywood actors, Sanjay Dutt, was undoubtedly the biggest blockbuster that year.
Ranbir Kapoor had essayed the role of Sanjay Dutt which proved to be a major boost to the actor’s career as the film went on to do a massive business at the box office. The film had its fair share of controversies, with many people feeling that the story and portrayal were more of a ‘whitewash’ attempting to evoke sympathy in people’s minds towards Dutt.
But here’s a fun fact about the film that many people might not be aware of. Aamir Khan was once approached for a role in the film which he rejected and the reason is quite interesting!
Aamir was actually approached for the role of Sunil Dutt, Sanjay Dutt’s father. The actor, however, wanted to play the titular role. The conversations went on but he finally decided to opt-out of something he would have down half-heartedly.
Aamir Khan himself revealed it all in a conversation with NDTV in 2018. He said, “I can’t do any other role but Sanjay Dutt’s. Dutt Saab’s role is a fabulous role. There is so much about Sanju’s relationship with his father, but Sanju’s role is unbelievable. I told Raju that role had won my heart. In this film, I can’t do any other role apart from Sanjay Dutt’s, which I can’t do because Ranbir is doing. So don’t offer me any other role. I can’t come to a set thinking and be looking at Ranbir and be like, hmmm.. these should be my lines”.
While everyone had their thing to say, the film’s director Rajkumar Hirani also came out and spoke about the actor rejecting to act in his film.
Rajkumar Hirani said, “Aamir is a friend. Whenever I write a script, I just go to him and narrate it to get a reaction from him. So I narrated this script also. Not with the intention of asking him to play any role. He reacted interestingly to the script and liked it. Then just out of greed, I asked Aamir if he would play Dutt saab’s role? He took it seriously and gave it a thought. He said let’s meet after a while.”
The director added that when he met Aamir Khan the next time, the superstar expressed concerns about being typecast for elderly roles as he was already playing a father in Dangal. The role later went to Paresh Rawal.