Aamir Khan is back in Gulshan Kumar’s biopic not just as the producer but also as the lead character.
Titled, Mogul, the film was scrapped after its director Subhash Kapoor had allegations of sexual misconduct levelled against him as #MeToo movement hit the film industry last year.
The 54-year-old Khan had then, released an official statement on social media along with his wife and producer-director Kiran Rao announcing their decision to step down as producers.
“…at Aamir Khan Productions we have always had a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual misconduct and predatory behaviour of any kind… Two weeks ago, when traumatic #MeToo stories began emerging, it was brought to our attention that someone we were about to begin work with has been accused of sexual misconduct,” the statement read.
“Without casting any aspersions on anyone involved in this case, and without coming to any conclusions about these specific allegations, we have decided to step away from this film,” the statement had said.
Recently, in an exclusive interview to Hindustan Times, the megastar confirmed that he is back on the project.
Stating that courts of law take long to decide on a case. On hearing that after their decision, others too had decided to not work with him and he was dropped from a number of projects, Aamir felt guilty of depriving a man of ” his livelihood” until “he/she is proven guilty”.
” So, without casting aspersions on anyone involved in the case, we stepped away from the film. Subsequently, Mr Kapoor was removed from the film. T-Series terminated his contract. Then we heard that he was also dropped from some other projects which were in development stage,” Hindustan Times quoted him as saying.
“We heard that whatever steps he was taking to put together a film didn’t go through, because nobody wanted to work with him. That really troubled us because we felt that our action had inadvertently cost a person — who is yet to be tried in a court of law — to lose his livelihood. And for how long? Is it for one year? Or ten years? We don’t know. What if he is innocent. We were very troubled. Laws of natural justice consider a person innocent until he/she is proven guilty. But until such time that the courts reach a conclusion, is it that he/she should not be allowed to work? Is he to just sit at home and not earn?
And so, we were in this troubled state for many months. I couldn’t sleep at night because I used to constantly feel that my actions have inadvertently caused a person, about whose guilt I have absolutely no idea, to lose his right to work and earn a livelihood,” Khan added.
Aamir also mentioned that the Indian Film and Television Directors’ Association also sent him a letter stating “that his matter was sub-judice, and that I should wait for the courts to decide on his matter. And until such time he shouldn’t lose his right to earn a living,” following which he felt that he was “doing the wrong thing”.
Kiran Rao and Aamir, therefore, met several women who had worked with Subhash Kapoor over the course of many years. From their interaction with them, they found that “all of them spoke very highly of him. Not only did they not feel any discomfort with him, but rather they went out of their way to praise him. They said that he looked after everyone on his set with great care. Caring, sensitive and supportive were the words used to describe him. ”
The 3 Idiots-fame actor also added that he was well aware of the fact that these praises could not mean that Subhash could not have misbehaved with other women.
Aamir will start working on the project after wrapping up Laal Singh Chaddha.
Subhash Kapoor has previously directed satirical comic dramas like Phas Gaye Re Obama (2010), Jolly LLB (2013) and Jolly LLB 2 (2017).
— Aamir Khan (@aamir_khan) October 10, 2018