The Stranger in the Mirror, the autobiography of Toofaan director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, was released on July 27. The director describes his journey in advertising as well as the film industry, including the creation of the films, in this book co-written by Reeta Ramamurthy Gupta. In a new release excerpt, Mehra discusses how actor Aamir Khan’s demand for double the cash, Rs 8 crore, if the film was delayed helped him finish the picture ahead of schedule.
According to reports, Aamir imbibed the soul of DJ and Chandrashekhar Azad and put his own version to it, ranging from the sublime to the ordinary elements of the character. Bharathi (the filmmaker’s wife) had given Om Prakash a quote that read. “There are two primary choices in life either you accept things as they are or you accept responsibility for bringing about change.’ As a one-line brief for Aamir’s character impetus, Mehra sent Aamir the same.
In addition to elaborating on Khan’s clause, the filmmaker went on to say that Aamir is a visionary who understands everything that goes wrong or right in the creative process. Because Aamir supported the need to achieve it, sometimes difficult decisions like “let’s shoot for 10 more days” became simple. He also had no ego about who was in charge of the scene. He would cheerfully stay in the background if the scene belonged to the other boys because the film’s narrative was the Bible that could not be tampered with. In the film sector, Aamir’s cinematic expertise is unrivaled. RDB would have been another dreamer’s script gathering dust of apathy and sloth if he hadn’t given it his blessing. Aamir added a condition in his contract, which was the reason the director, was able to finish the film on schedule in the first place. Aamir said, ‘If his price was Rs. 4 crore and if he was not paid pay on time, the director of the film would have to pay Aamir Rs. 8 crores for defaulting’.
Rang De Basanti was released in 2006 and went on to gather both critical and commercial acclaim.
