Well, it is well know that Aamir Khan was very keen to play the role of sub-inspector Shyam Manohar in Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies. That particular role, however, was performed by Ravi Kishan. During the film’s screening at the Asian World Film Festival, Kiran explained why she did not cast Aamir, though the actor jokingly claimed that the director did not believe in him.
Smiling while describing the incident Aamir said, “I tried to play a character in the film; she (Kiran) didn’t let me. I wanted to play the cop and even did a screen test for it, but I was rejected. I was really keen on playing that role, but Kiran and I discussed it. I think my screen test was very good, but we decided to go with Ravi Kishan. Both of us took that decision.”
To the question why she cast him and not any of the other newcomers, Kiran answered, “Everyone knows that the character does a flip in the end, even though he stays kind of grey throughout the film. It shows that he has an empathetic side to him. But with Aamir, you would have expected him to do something like this in the end because he is Aamir Khan.”