Raja Hindustani established Aamir Khan’s superstardom, says director Dharmesh Darshan: ‘Despite the longest kiss, it got a U-certificate’

After my superhit debut directorial, Lootera, every actor wanted to work with me and I could have taken anyone from Sunny (Deol) and Anil (Kapoor) to Govinda, Salman (Khan) and Shah Rukh (Khan). I chose Aamir because he’s a performer, was excited to work with me and had even suggested my name to the Moranis (the film’s producers) having loved Lootera, was known for his concentration and craft. Most importantly, like me, he has a cinematic awareness of the legends of the past.

But while Aamir had worked in over 25 films and some of them were big hits, he was not a superstar like the other two Khans. When I visited Indore 10 days before the release of the film, my father’s (producer-distributor Darshan Sabharwal) industry friends expressed their apprehensions, pointing out that Raja Hindustani didn’t have Shah Rukh, Salman, Kajol or even Amitabh Bachchan. Would it work? I assured them that it was a terrific film and Aamir was superb. But I admit today that while making it, occasionally, I was plagued by doubts. I was young, alone, working with outside producers, making an urban, upmarket family drama that went against the current trend of hardcore action and frothy romances. One morning, I confided this to my mother, Sheila, before I left for shooting. However, I also added that I loved the film like my baby, and like a mother, was pouring all my love into it. “Jo hoga dekha jayenga,” I shrugged. She recalled my words when Raja Hindustani became a blockbuster and Aamir was a superstar. It won him his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor and he’s never looked back.

Aamir Khan’s Raja Hindustani was one of the biggest hits of 1996.

We were close for almost a decade, but I haven’t met him in the last two decades. We live in the same suburb, work in the same industry, but we have both moved on. However, one film will always bind us together.

Strangely, while Raja Hindustani is often remembered for its performances, costumes, Karisma Kapoor’s makeover and the music, no one talks about the kiss, the longest one at the time, that too in a family film. Almost 60 shots, inspired by a moment of dark intimacy in the Malabar caves in David Lean’s period epic, A Passage to India, marking a turning point in the plot. I had deliberately kept it a little long anticipating censor cuts, but amazingly, the CBFC passed the film with a ‘U’ certificate without a single cut. In appreciation, I took a voluntary 30 per cent cut and one of my biggest victories was that in no theatre across the country did one hear a single snigger, lewd whisper or catcall during that passionately intense five-minute sequence. The kiss broke a social taboo in India for lovers and as for Aamir, from a sincere, intense actor who could convincingly play a married man and father, he was also perceived as a hot-blooded lover.

Aamir Khan and Karisma Kapoor in Raja Hindustani.

Another crucial scene is when Raja gets drunk and breaks down. I had grown up on Dilip Kumar’s iconic drunken scenes and told Aamir to copy the elements in these performances. The drama and megalomania, the largesse and the pain, sometimes the helpless impotence and vulnerability. Since I don’t drink, I had no idea how someone behaves when sozzled. So, I told Aamir he would have to get drunk. He did, and trusted me enough to put himself in my hands completely. That put a larger responsibility on me. I was with him even when he was dubbing, telling him when to stress on certain words like sharminda, fraught with pain and humiliation from the realization that while Aarti loves him, she can’t accept him because in her world he lacks a certain stature. The 10-minute sequence remains unforgettable.

Looking back, is there anything I would change about the film? No, nothing, except maybe I would put back a beautiful song I had recorded with Kumar Sanu. I had even shot half of it with Aamir and Karisma (Kapoor), running in the hills, she dressed in a white churidar-kurta as Raja remembers the moments in flashback. However, I later felt that “Tum bhool nahi paaogi” was too obviously a sad song and opted for another version of “Pardesi pardesi jaana nahin” which, I was told, was a masterstroke.

Today, even if I couldn’t incorporate that song in the film, I would at least have included it in the album. I wish the producers had insisted on this then. According to a poll conducted by a music company some years ago, Raja Hindustani is the third most popular music album, after Aashiqui and Dhadkan. Maybe with this extra song it would have topped the poll.

Aamir Khan as Raja Hindustani.

Since last year, several yesteryear hits have re-released in the theatres to a warm reception. Raja Hindustani, I tell whoever asks, is re-releasing every day, every hour, on some platform or the other. It’s hugely popular on Netflix and the songs are still playing in pubs, clubs and live concerts. Sandwiched between the films of the ’60, ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s and those from this century, whether its Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathan and Jawaan, Ranbir Kapoor’s Animal or Aamir’s own Lagaan, 3 Idiots and Dangal, my film has wooed successive generations of filmgoers. And almost 30 years later, Aamir Khan still rules hearts as Raja Hindustani.

As told to Roshmila Bhattacharya