The cast of Dhobi Ghat: Prateik Babbar, Monica Dogra, Kiran Rao, Kriti Malholtra, Aamir Khan

TORONTO — Bollywood icon Aamir Khan was “nervous” about his wife Kiran Rao’s directing debut and shocked by her initial refusal to cast him in “Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai Diaries),” he said at its world premiere in Toronto.

The film features Khan as brooding painter Arun who strikes up a flirtation with an American Indian woman named Shai (Monica Dogra) visiting her family in Mumbai with the city’s sprawling laundry district, or dhobi ghat, as the backdrop.

“When (Rao) told me she was writing a script I was very nervous,” Khan said, “because I was thinking one of these days this script is going to be completed and I’ll have to read it and what if I don’t like it, it won’t be a very comfortable situation.”

“I was feeling bad,” he said. “I thought, I hope she doesn’t complete the script.”

When it was finished, Khan pressed Rao to go visit his cousin and they would all read it together, hoping that if both he and his cousin disliked it “at least I’d have numbers on my side. “I was really quite terrified.”

But after reading it, Khan said he became “fascinated by what she had written.”

“It’s so delicate and beautiful,” he said. “Her characters speak in such a different and unique voice, and all of that hit me and I thought, ‘Wow I married a really talented women here.’”

“When I fell in love the first time, I didn’t know how really talented she was. When I read the script I was really amazed and I fell in love with her again,” he gushed.

Then, when Rao refused to cast him — shock. Rao explained that she did not want to work with known actors. “She didn’t want me in the film. I was most upset,” Khan quipped.

Of course, she would later relent, saying he “tricked” her into it with his “diabolical and Machiavellian” cunning and charms.

“Actually, this character is so crabby and unpleasant and one morning she saw me in my usual crabby self, and she said, ‘You know you’re perfect for the role,’” Khan said.

And so how was it to be directed by his wife? “I felt like I was at home,” Khan quipped.

“They’re just the cutest together,” commented Prateik Babbar, who earned a standing ovation at the premiere for his performance as Zohaib, a laundry man shared by Arun and Shai.

The film is among a handful of Indian films screening at the Toronto film festival this year, as in years past.

Its release comes just as Canada launches audiovisual co-production negotiations with India, hoping to boost its film sector.

Canada’s Heritage Minister James Moore said last week that co-productions attract foreign investment and rake in 30 percent more at the Canadian box office.

Khan noted, however, that recognition at an international film festival does not help with distribution back home in India, only with foreign distribution.

Receiving an audience award at the Toronto film festival or the Palme d’Or at Cannes, for example, is a “sure, sure way of telling (Indian) audiences not to go to a film,” he said – AFP

Aamir Khan

Bollywood Actor Aamir Khan and wife Kiran Rao have been invited to dine with the Prince of Wales and Camila Parker Bowles at their Marlborough House in Westminster, London.

It is reported that Aamir Khan is honoured by this gesture of the Prince and has accepted the offer. He has been invited with wife Kiran for cocktails and dinner. It is going to be a selected gathering.

The actor will be attending the Toronto Film Festival on September 9, for his wife Kiran Rao’s film Dhobi Ghat is going to be screened there. Later on September 24, the actor will head toward London for the release of his film Peepli Live in UK.

This is not the first time that Prince of Wales will be sharing moments with Bollywood personality. Earlier, it was Padmini Kolhapure who was so over whelmed that she kissed the Prince on his trip to India. Even Gulshan Grover claims to have shared some tea table moments with the Prince.

Now it is Aamir who is royally welcomed by the Prince to share some moment with him and his family.

3 Idiots (2009)

3 Idiots has to be the most anticipated film of the year (2009) and will most certainly bag the coveted award for best film, as most Aamir Khan starrers do. With all the hype that Aamir created for a movie that was overtly simple and understated, one really couldn’t sense how successful the film would be just by the promos and songs, that although catchy, didn’t seem like A list music. After all there have been numerous films centred on college life such as Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na, which was produced by Aamir Khan. But what sets 3 Idiots apart from the rest is the perfect blend of effortless comedy, brilliant acting and chemistry between all the characters and a script focusing it’s three main characters, leaving enough room for the message to peek through the humour. It may have given off a Dil Chahta Hai vibe, with three friends in their element of buffoonery, but 3 Idiots is a film with a very grave undertones beneath the various layers of humour: a message that many in the academic structures of higher education are alarmingly all too familiar with – student suicide, or as Hirani questions throughout the film, murder.

Other than the three leads, Aamir Khan, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi there is a fourth sub-character who is pivotal to these main three – Omi Vadiya (who some may recognise from the US version of The Office).

Hirani depicts the vagaries of college life and how each character deals with the various pressures of young adulthood, it’s accompanying responsibilities and burdens alongwith academics. Omi is the annoying geek who believes in mental Xeroxing and regurgitating, Madhavan is the student pushed by his father, striving to take an interest in a subject that he does not have a passion or inclination for (sound familiar?), Joshi the scholarship recipient whose family life is a pothole of problems, Aamir, the refreshing free thinker and challenger of all rules who attends college to learn and assiduously quotes throughout the film, “seek excellence and success will follow”, and Boman Irani as the irrepressible Virus; the college director who emblemises the patriarch of pedagogy.

Using each character to depict a facet of the education sector, Hirani brings forth a powerful debate of what constitutes education in the true sense and ultimately tries to show the triumph of creativity and innovative thought in the film’s hilarious concluding scene with his two opposing characters.

But to give credit where it is due, the film is as much about Madhavan, Joshi and Omi as it is about Aamir. With each passing film, Aamir seems to have reduced the verbosity of his characters and focused more on expressive acting, allowing those sharing his screen frame to share the glory. The film sees the rise of Madhavan and Joshi as talent to reckon with.

3 Idiots is an endearing story that leaves one in convulsion upon convulsion of laughter, Hirani scores by bringing forth a story identifiable and real not only for the audiences, but also for himself. With a director who has made films on his own terms with the most bizarre story lines (the loveable don Munna Bhai as testimony), and a leading actor, Aamir Khan who reigns the industry on his own terms, 3 Idiots comes off as a strong commentary on the mantra ‘believe in your self and do only what you can do best, and happiness and success will follow’ – Hani Taha Salim

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 2009, Genre – Comedy, Drama, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Director – Rajkumar Hirani, Music Director – Shantanu Moitra, Cast – Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Boman Irani, Mona Singh, Parikshit Sahni, Javed Jaffrey, Akhil Mishra, Rahul Kumar, Omi Vaidya, Rajeev Ravindranathan, Sanjay Lafont, Achyut Poddar, Amardeep Jha, Farida Dadi, Jayant Kriplani, Arun Bali, Supriya Shukla, Atul Tiwari, Ali Fazal, Michael Joseph, Madhav Vaze