Toronto: Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan was sceptical and "terrified" about wife Kiran Rao's directorial debut 'Dhobhi Ghat', but says that the film made him fall in love with her all over again.
Khan who along with Rao, his wife of five years, is here for the film's international premiere at the Toronto Film Festival said that he was "upset" by his wife's initial refusal to cast him in the project.
'Dhobhi Ghat' looks at the city of Mumbai through the eyes of four characters and Aamir plays one of them, the painter Arun. Rao initially wanted to cast a new face but finally decided to let her superstar husband step in. The 45-year-old actor, who wowed the crowd here during the gala premiere, said that he was sceptical about the venture at first.
"When she told me she was writing a script I was very nervous, because I was thinking one of these days this script is going to be completed and I'll have to read it and what if I don't like it, it won't be a very comfortable situation," Khan said. The '3 Idiots' actor said that at one point he was so terrified that he prayed for the script to never get finished.
"I was feeling bad. I thought, I hope she doesn't complete the script. I was so terrified," said Khan .When it was finished, Khan pressed Rao to go visit his cousin and they would all read it together, hoping that if both he and his cousin disliked it "at least I'd have numbers on my side". But after reading it, Khan said he became "fascinated" by what Rao had written.
"It's so delicate and beautiful. Her characters speak in such a different and unique voice, and all of that hit me and I thought, 'Wow I married a really talented women here.' When I fell in love the first time, I didn't know how really talented she was. When I read the script I was really amazed and I fell in love with her again," gushed Khan.
But the actor did not take it well when Rao refused to cast him as she did not want to work with known actors. But Rao said that she was "tricked" into casting Khan with his "diabolical and Machiavellian" cunning and charms. "Actually, this character is so crabby and unpleasant and one morning she saw me in my usual crabby self, and she said, 'You know you're perfect for the role,'" Khan said.
And so how was it to be directed by his wife? "I felt like I was at home," Khan quipped. "They're just the cutest together," commented Prateik Babbar, who earned a standing ovation at the premiere for his performance as Zohaib, a laundry man shared by Arun and his love interest Shai, played by Monica Dogra. PTI
