‘Aamir Khan called on the landline at midnight and my sister said, kyu badmaashi kar rahe ho?’, recalls Lagaan actor Pradeep Rawat

Actor Pradeep Rawat, who is known for playing characters such as Deva in Lagaan, Sultan in Sarfarosh and the titular character in Ghajini, recently recalled the moment when he was offered a role in Lagaan by none other than Aamir Khan himself, but his sister almost turned Aamir away as she couldn’t believe that the movie star would be calling their landline number. Pradeep said that the role of Deva was first offered to actor Mukesh Rishi but since he couldn’t do it, Pradeep was brought in as a last minute replacement.

In a chat with Siddharth Kannan on his YouTube channel, when asked if Mukesh Rishi, known for playing Salim in Sarfarosh, rejected the role of Deva, Pradeep clarified that Mukesh was already occupied with six films in the South, and could not adjust the dates of all those films to fit Lagaan, so he had to drop out. Aamir then thought of Pradeep as they had just worked together in Sarfarosh, where Pradeep had played one of the villains. He recalled, “For Lagaan, Aamir Khan Productions wanted the dates in a big chunk. Since Mukesh couldn’t do it, I was the next choice. I had just done Sarfarosh, played Sultan in that, and Aamir liked it.”

He then spoke about Aamir Khan calling his house at midnight. “My sister took the call, and she did not believe it was Aamir. She said ‘Kyu badmaashi kar rahe ho?’ He said ‘Main vaakayi Aamir Khan bol raha hun, Pradeep ji hain kya?’ My sister could not believe that it was actually Aamir’s call,” he recalled with a laugh.

Story continues below this ad

ALSO READ | Aditi Rao Hydari reacts to her viral Gajagamini walk from Heeramandi, says Sanjay Leela Bhansali appreciated that she’d put on weight

Pradeep said that Aamir then gave the phone to Umashankar Pathik, who was one of the writers on Sarfarosh, and had been to Pradeep’s house a few times. Since Pradeep’s sister knew Pathik, he told her that it was actually Aamir who was calling. “They told my sister that please ask Pradeep to come to Aamir’s office in the morning, sign the contract and collect the cheque for Lagaan. When I got home after the shoot at 3, I saw everyone was up and about because they were so excited that Aamir Khan had called,” he recalled.

Pradeep said that till date, he thanks Mukesh for bowing out of Lagaan because had that not happened, Pradeep would not have gotten the chance to play Deva Singh Sodhi, which also kickstarted his flourishing career in south films.