Neither Aamir Khan nor his reel Dangal daughter and real-life protegee Fatima Sana Shaikh are showing the slightest concern about the link-up rumours. It’s utterly refreshing - even shocking at some level! - to see them mirror not even the mildest distress about what the world might be saying about them.
Posing comfortably together at the MAMI 19th Mumbai Film Festival, Fatima spoke about how special Thugs of Hindostan was to her. But what really pricked our ears was what she said about Aamir – “I still bully him.’’ Alright!
Aamir dropped his family-only policy and we saw Fatima also join in the recent Eid Al Adha celebrations at the Khan residence, with Aamir and his entire family. Happy pics of them all together surfaced, further proving that all was very well with this family, thank you.
Speaking about Thugs of Hindostan in a recent interview, Aamir actually maintained that the film was about the character played by Fatima. Oh and he has some sort of logic to try and prove it… “If we look at a film like Ghajini also, I think Kalpana (Asin)’s role was much better than Sanjay Singhania (Aamir). She is the heart of the film and that is the character which is author backed and the one you go home with. In Rang De Basanti also, the story is basically about the British girl, she comes down, she moves everything, she makes the film. Even in Thugs of Hindostan, the central role is the girl who is being played by Fatima Sana Shaikh. The story of the film is about her,” he explained. Well, if Aamir’s saying it, let’s just play along, shall we?
Unfazed by all the tattle, Aamir continues to recommend her. He apparently even asked the makers of the Rakesh Sharma biopic, Salute, to audition Fatima and then decide whether she or Priyanka Chopra should be cast for the film. It helps of course that he himself is co-producing the film along with Siddharth Roy Kapur!
With Fatima, Aamir is also breaking another unwritten rule of his: to not repeat his heroines. Trade insiders remark on how unusual it is for Aamir to be repeatedly recommending a heroine he has already worked with, but who would dare ask Aamir about why he is breaking his own rules!
Time to take a tip or two from the master himself on how not to sweat the not-so-small stuff!
