Ali Fazal says his musician friends ‘abused’ him for playing guitar wrong in Rajkumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots, reveals Aamir Khan’s advise to him

On the podcast Cyrus Says, Ali said that Rajkumar Hirani saw him performing a play at Mumbai’s Prithvi Theatre and then called him for the film. He said, “I didn’t know all these actors were part of it. I just remember getting a call. I remember going in for the audition wearing this one t-shirt, which I probably used to wear like 4 days a week and getting cast and being told, ‘Woh, tum shirt wahi le aana beta, hume wohi shirt chaiye. (We want the same shirt in which you auditioned)’.”

The actor continued, “I started learning guitar. I learned each and every chord, and then all my musician friends abused me for years after that because on set I was playing it beautifully. It’s perfect like ‘Give me some sunshine.’ But, suddenly Raju sir comes in and he says ‘Don’t look at the guitar.’ Then Aamir Khan comes and says ‘play common chords.’” Hence, the actor just strummed the guitar without focusing on the right chords. 

Ali played Joy Lobo in 3 Idiots, a student who loved machines but his project got rejected by Dr. Viru Sahastrabuddhe, played by Boman Irani. The actor also revealed that his shirt was damaged in one of the tragic scenes of the film and the makers stitched it and gave it back to him. The film was released in 2009 and was a massive hit.

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