Filmmaker Dharmesh Darshan who gained prominence in the 1990s and 2000s for his work on projects like Dhadkan and Raja Hindustani has shared personal anecdotes from his experience during the making of his movies. Speaking about one of the experiences, the director revealed how Aamir Khan pushed him to shoot a “vulgar scene” and made him weep on the sets of the movie ‘Mela’.
Darshan mentioned that when he initially collaborated with Aamir Khan, the actor was viewed as more “elitist” and hadn’t achieved the same level of success in the Hindi mainstream as some of his fellow actors. However, Aamir strove for sequences that contradicted his persona during the production of Mela. The director divulged that after watching the Hollywood movie ‘Dumb and Dumber’, Aamir urged him to replicate a distasteful scene from it.
He stated, “You wouldn’t believe this, but there’s that urine therapy sequence (in the film) with Johnny Lever. For the first time in my life, I wept on set. I said who will believe this is an Aamir Khan sequence.” However, the Aamir actor told Darshan “not to be pretentious.” The director said that the scene was obscene, but he performed it despite his reservations because he had committed to the assignment.
Here’s the scene from the movie:-
Darshan said that the actor wasn’t as dedicated to the movie’s quality as he generally would have been because he was too preoccupied with bringing his brother Faisal Khan’s career back to life. “I didn’t want to do Mela, but Aamir had to correct Faisal’s career. First I said no to him.” Darshan had similar things to say about his venture ‘Haan Maine Bhi Pyaar Kiya’ which he said he worked on for emotional reasons and not because he wanted to. However, he consented to direct Mela only at his mother’s persuasion.
He added, “Oddly, Aamir didn’t submit so much in Mela. His mind started working more because he was concerned about Faisal. He had become so big after Raja Hindustani, and he doesn’t have that commercial instinct. It became a hodgepodge, but I saved it at the end of the day economically. But I got so much flak for it.”
Furthermore, the director disclosed that Kajol was initially considered for the lead for ‘Mela’, which was eventually played by Twinkle Khanna. Darshan revealed that Kajol had refused to star in the film because of Aamir’s reputation for several takes whereas she was a one-take actor.
“All my friends had worked with her, but I worked with Lolo (Karisma Kapoor). Kajol was supposed to be in Mela, but there was some discomfort from her side. She was not sure about Aamir at that point, though later on they did Fanaa. She’s a one-take actor, and he takes many takes. So, she had those reservations, that her spontaneity (would be affected). But she was very gracious, she came to my house and explained it to me. Kajol was not known to do these things,” Darshan said.
The part was then played by Twinkle Khanna, who has often publicly mocked the film and her own performance during interviews. It was her final film before she tied the knot with Akshay Kumar and decided to quit acting altogether. Mela turned out to be a major box-office disappointment and continues to be one of the most detested films in Aamir Khan’s career.
It essentially put an end to Faisal Khan’s Bollywood hopes while Aamir recovered from the failure the very next year with back-to-back hits like Lagaan and Dil Chahta Hai. Dharmesh Darshan went on to direct movies such as Dhadkan, Bewafaa, Haan Maine bhi Pyaar Kiya and Aap ki Khatir in the ensuing years.
Watch the entire interview below:
Notably, Aamir Khan made headlines in 2021 when it was revealed that the actor used to spit on the hands of his female stars like Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawala in the name of pranks. However, he defended it by claiming, “Whoever actress I spat in the palm of became number one.”
