Aamir Khan, who had announced his decision to dissociate himself from the Gulshan Kumar biopic, Mogul, last October after its director, Subhash Kapoor’s name figured in the #MeToo list of celebrities accused of sexual harassment, is on board again. The superstar will not just play the title role but will also produce the film jointly with Bhushan Kumar, son of Gulshan Kumar.
Aamir had walked out of the project last year in support of the #MeToo movement and due to the fact that he did not want to have anything to do with a filmmaker accused of sexual harassment, in this case by actress Geetika Tyagi. However, his refusal to associate with Subhash Kapoor led to a situation where no other actor or producer was willing to work with Kapoor. This caused Aamir to feel guilty as there was no concrete proof of the accusation against Subhash Kapoor. So almost a year after his walk-out, Aamir has decided to leave it to the court to decide whether or not Kapoor was gulity of sexual harassment. Aamir’s reconsideration of Mogul and Subhash Kapoor came about due to three factors:
(i) he felt guilty that he was responsible for rendering Subhash Kapoor jobless, that too, without a court or any committee having declared him guilty of the crime he had been accused of committing;
(ii) the Indian Film & Television Directors’ Association (IFTDA) wrote to Aamir, asking him to reconsider his decision of not working with Subhash Kapoor;
(iii) he spoke to the girls who had worked with Kapoor in the past, and all of them had only good and positive things to speak about the filmmaker.
Aamir will start Mogul after he completes Lal Singh Chaddha. The earliest Mogul will roll is next year. Aamir had earlier wanted to cast Akshay Kumar in the film. But when things did not work out with Akshay, his next choice was Varun Dhawan. But that casting also never materialised. As Aamir was gung-ho about the subject, he jumped into the project as actor and producer.