Junaid Khan stepped into Bollywood with his debut film ‘Maharaj’ and was widely praised for his performance. But the films that followed failed to make the same impact on audiences. Now, Junaid has opened up about an interesting decision he has made, he has stopped sharing scripts with his father Aamir Khan, and revealed the reason behind it.
Junaid Khan reveals why he wants to keep his father at a distance from his work
In a candid chat with Vickey Lalwani on his YouTube channel, Junaid was asked whether he discusses his film projects with his father Aamir Khan. He quickly shut down that idea, saying, “No, because I made that mistake with Ek Din.” He went on to explain the story behind it, revealing that filmmaker Siddharth P Malhotra had first approached him about acquiring the rights to the Thai film ‘One Day’ even before the shooting of ‘Maharaj’ had begun, and had expressed his wish to make the film with Junaid. At that point, the script was still being worked on. It was later, while the two were busy filming ‘Maharaj’, that Siddharth sat down with Junaid and narrated the full script of ‘Ek Din’ to him and Junaid instantly fell in love with it.
How Aamir Khan ended up producing ‘Ek Din’
Siddharth, however, told Junaid that directing the film was not possible for him at that point since he was completely occupied with ‘Maharaj’, and that he would bring another director on board instead. Junaid decided to take the script to his father and get his thoughts on it. What followed was something Junaid had not quite expected, Aamir listened to the narration and was so moved that he straight away wanted to produce the film. Junaid recalled how his father put forward an emotional request to Siddharth that was hard to refuse. He said, “So he requested to let him produce it. Mere bete ke liye mujhe ek chance mil raha hai please (So he requested them to let him produce it. ‘Please, I’m getting one chance for my son’).”Junaid further added, “Papa is a fantastic producer, but what ends up happening is it takes 5 years to make it. So then I realised that if I take it to dad, he will be like I will produce it and then I will have one film in 5 years. Which is great for him, but I am just starting out. Dad is dying to make another film with me, but I am like, in a bit. He gets nervous when he’s not in charge. Even with Maharaj, he was like I don’t know why you’re doing this. Are you sure it’s the right film for you? With Loveyapa, he was a little relaxed.”
‘Ek Din’ failed to make a mark at the box office
Directed by Sunil Pandey, the film featured Junaid Khan and Sai Pallavi in the lead roles and was produced under the banner of Aamir Khan Productions. Despite the excitement surrounding it, the romantic drama failed to impress critics and audiences alike, opening to mixed to negative reviews.
