Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan’s son and actor Junaid Khan participated in Sahitya Aaj Tak 2024. Junaid was accompanied by director Siddharth P Malhotra. The actor-director duo have worked together in the film ‘Maharaj’, which was released on Netflix after much controversy. Junaid and Siddharth spoke openly on the sets of Sahitya Aaj Tak about their film, Aamir Khan and their life.
Junaid Khan said that he is not on social media platforms. He said I don’t take good photographs nor do I like it. Siddharth P Malhotra spoke about his career. Siddharth said that his debut was with the film ‘Karib’. After this he did ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’ and then ‘Vivah’. Siddharth has also written the famous TV shows ‘Sanjeevani’ and ‘Dil Mil Gaye’. Siddharth’s grandfather, father, grandmother and sister have also been a part of the industry.
There was a problem making the movie Hiccup.
Rani Mukherjee’s hit film ‘Hichki’, released in 2018, was also produced by Siddharth P Malhotra. He said that at one point it seemed impossible to make that film. It has happened to me many times that I thought it would not be possible. I was hesitant, at that time the film We Are Family had come with Dabangg, it didn’t do well. When your film doesn’t do well, whether you’re in or out of the industry, your storytelling opportunities close.
I was in trouble because Hichki, who I was telling this story to, used to say that he is a crazy teacher. That movie was about Tourette syndrome. There is a teacher who has Tourette syndrome. I have told this story more than 500 times. Ask anyone in the industry if Siddharth came to you with Hichki and they will tell you yes. The only person I didn’t go to was Aditya Chopra. I told my wife that yes, they would make my film there. But in the end that’s what happened, in the end he made this movie. All he said was that the teacher be a woman. Then Rani came and in 28 days we made Hichki. After that, Maharaj’s journey started from there. Then that also took 5 years.
What advice did you receive from Junaid Papa?
Junaid Khan made his film debut with the film ‘Maharaj’. In such a situation, he was asked whether he had received any advice from his father and perfectionist sir Aamir Khan or not. On this, Junaid said, ‘I didn’t get that many tips from the beginning. One thing he said was that when I was 18 or 19, I was studying commerce and I told my dad I wanted to go to theater school in the United States. He said, look, you can learn acting anywhere. You will learn by doing. What you won’t be able to learn quickly is the culture of India. You won’t be able to understand the nuances of the culture, spend time understanding it. So I said yes, yes and then I went to the United States.
He didn’t have a big launch like other star kids.
Many Bollywood star kids have jumped into the industry in recent years. They all had the opportunity to work in great films on the big screen. But Junaid Khan didn’t have a big launch like other star kids. His film ‘Maharaj’ was released on Netflix. In such a situation, he was asked why he chose to come to OTT.
Responding to this, Junaid Khan said, “No one had thought of this, it was the producer’s decision.” We started filming in 2021. We were filming in February 2021 and we were getting work, that was a big thing. Many films stalled at that time. So we didn’t think about when it would come or how it would come. We were just getting there. Then Aditya Chopra decided that he would come on OTT. He is the best producer in the industry. They know better. Taking Junaid’s point into account, director Siddharth said the focus was on the film’s viewing experience in theaters before and after the pandemic. Before, people didn’t even go to see the movies of the big stars. This was a film for newcomers. It was an expensive movie. So after thinking carefully, Netflix and Yash Raj together decided that OTT is the best platform for this.
Difficulties faced in releasing the film.
The film ‘Maharaj’ was banned just a few days before its release. Talking about this, director Siddharth P Malhotra told how many difficulties he had to face. He said: ‘The journey of this film has been very painful. When we think about this film, there is a book about it, which has been published for 13 years. So there was no problem.
The Supreme Court ruling on the film can be downloaded for free on the Internet, no one said anything. This is taught at the university. This is taught in 6 universities. A work has been done on this in the name of Maharaj. Even then there is no problem. We made a movie. My wife is Vaisnava, my writers are Vaisnava. There are 56 actor-technicians in this film, he is Vaisnava. When we wrote the script for this film, we must have done 50-60 narrations and we told them to everyone. When we were making it, people said it’s a good movie. Even after the film was edited and screened, there was applause. Then there was censorship, everything that was going to be cut was cut. I obtained the U/A certificate. And then you watch any movie, you make a trailer, then you make a poster, then you add songs, then you make a release, and then you make a screening.
Siddharth further said, “Only one poster of this film came out and it was banned.” So after working hard for 5 years, how does it feel when this happens? They made me believe that this movie was not going to happen. Forget. After that there was a judicial process. We were watching the court case live for 5 days. The film was going to be released on the 13th. People applauded and applauded. We said we can’t release this film now, it is stuck. After a week and a half, this movie arrived on Netflix and as creators, not even we knew it had arrived. I would like to thank the Gujarat High Court for examining this film and saying that it is not against their religion. Which we already knew wasn’t going to happen. After that, that movie came to Netflix and stayed at No. 1 globally for 10 weeks and stayed there for more than 10 weeks in India. I would like to thank Netflix that after the release of the movie they again played the trailer and then played the songs and then we promoted it. Then we realized the power of content. The climax of the film has been cut.
Junaid gave an 8-page monologue.
Talking about the film’s release, Junaid Khan said, “We were all very worried at that time.” My shoot took place in Delhi, we were shooting at nights. I felt that Siddharth sir made this film with great respect and care. I knew this movie would come one day. About preparing for Karsan Das’ character, he said, “We had a lot of time to prepare. We prepared for almost a year. Director Siddharth further said, “When we were shooting, there was an 8-page monologue. We had asked Junaid to make it by cutting it, it will become smaller. He has experience in theater. There were 800 people at that time, Junaid did the entire 8 pages in one go. There were Sanskrit verses in between, he completed that scene in 10 minutes.
Junaid likes to travel.
Junaid said he likes to travel. He recently went to Japan. He likes Europe a lot. He has visited Puducherry in India. I have visited Darjeeling. I have gone to Goa. Depending on their mood, they like whether they want to go to the mountains or the beach. The actor also said that he has come to Delhi mainly for work. He likes Delhi food. He says all the food in Delhi is good. Siddharth said he likes butter chicken and chaat. Junaid said you don’t get good butter chicken in Mumbai. He also said that he likes to cook, but he doesn’t do it. Cook food once or twice a year.
This is Junaid’s next film
Junaid Khan also spoke about his upcoming project. He said that there is a film which will release in February 2025. Along with Khushi Kapoor, Phantom has produced this film. Now two songs of the film are going to be shot. Junaid is not good at dancing. About this he said that the shooting of the song takes place in 2 days. But before filming, dance rehearsals are held every morning for a month.
