Aamir Khan-Karisma Kapoor’s Raja Hindustani kiss was shot over three days, her mom Babita was present throughout

In an interview with Lehren Retro, the filmmaker said that he had some concerns in mind before agreeing to work with Aamir on Raja Hindustani. He opened up about a question that he asked the actor before signing up. “I asked him one thing, and I give him credit for answering me. I can be very soft, but also very forthright. I asked him, ‘Aamir, how many directors will be there in this film?’ He looked at me. I told him, ‘People say (certain things), and I’m concerned, but I know people don’t always say the right things, everyone has their own experience’. He said, ‘Of course, Dharmesh, there will be only one director’.”

Aamir told him that he knew a director’s instinct is of utmost importance, but he also asked Dharmesh if he can participate in the creative process. To which Dharmesh replied, “But you will not interfere. I’ll take the heroine I want to take, I’ll take the song I want to take, I’ll take Archana Puran Singh, I’ll shoot the kissing scene I want to shoot.”

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Talking about the collaborative process with Aamir, Dharmesh said, “He contributed by supporting me so much on all my vulnerabilities. I had this big hit film behind me, and I was very young. I was 28 when Raja Hindustani was released. I was working with a very big actor, and I had supposedly taken a non-actor opposite him.”

Karisma-Aamir’s kissing scene

In the same interview, Dharmesh also opened up about the Aamir and Karisma’s kissing scene from the film, which was presented to both of them in the form of a shot list. Karisma’s mother, Babita Kapoor, was present on all three days on set. “She was very good on set, she was very excited. I could smell it on her. She was so sincere… She’d never done a kissing scene before. I told her what she would be wearing, the background wouldn’t be ‘sexy’. She said, ‘You don’t need to tell me so much’. Then I called Babita ji inside and narrated that sequence. Because Karisma was still very young, and mother can influence, no? And Lolo had a good image; she wasn’t a very noisy girl. Babita ji sat through the full three days of the shoot, and I didn’t send her away.”

He further added that the producers of the film actually wanted the kiss to be featured on the poster, in an effort to build buzz around it. However, he ‘didn’t allow it’.

Also starring Kunal Khemu, Archana Puran Singh, and Johny Lever in pivotal roles, Raja Hindustani narrated the story of a taxi driver, who falls in love with a rich girl, and marries her against her parents’ wishes. Later on, her stepmother tries to create differences between both of them. Along with the songs, the romantic drama emerged as a 90s classic.