Aamir Khan will play the titular character in Advait Chandan’s Laal Singh Chaddha, the remake of the classic Tom Hanks-starrer Forrest Gump (1994). Kareena Kapoor Khan will step into the shoes of Robin Wright, who played Jenny Curran – the lead character's love interest in the Hollywood film.
Khan has said that Wright's character, who at one point is a pacifist hippie who is heavily into drugs, has been changed the most in the Hindi adaptation.
“Kareena’s character is the one that has been altered the most amongst the characters from the original,” said Khan. “It’s because we don’t have that cultural reference of hippies and drugs. It was never in our environment. So we have altered her appropriately as to what is relevant in our society. I don’t want to tell you what it is; you see it.”
The actor also said the actress wasn't considered for the role of Rupa initially. “Actually, we were making a mistake first in our casting, today when I look back,” said Khan. “I play Laal and he goes from young to old. I have to look 18 and 45. So we planned to use de-aging and VFX for that. We were thinking that the actress should be in the 25-26-year range so that she can look 18 and later 45 too through make-up.”
Khan and Advait came across Kapoor by chance when the casting director was showing them someone else’s audition video. “We accidentally saw Kareena’s video. I and Advait both got interested,” he said. “We didn’t think about her earlier as she was not 25. But when we saw her we felt she is looking fabulous and the right fit.
“I said if we are de-aging my character, we can do for her as well. So it got solved in a second. She read for it and she was perfect. She is a very good actor. I am so glad that she is our Rupa,” he said.
Laal Singh Chaddha will be released in theatres on 11 August.