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Out of all the films that Aamir Khan did, Thugs of Hindostan tanked at the box office drastically. Despite having such a phenomenal cast that included actors like Katrina Kaif, Amitabh Bachchan, Fatima Sana Shaikh and more, it didn’t do well at the box office.

Many came to wonder what would have motivated Khan to actually say yes to the film. In a recent interview, he finally revealed what attracted him to the movie.

Credit: Yash Raj Films

While speaking at the Screen Academy Masterclass at Whistling Woods International in Mumbai, Aamir Khan talked about what attracted him to the Thugs of Hindostan. According to him, “Thugs of Hindostan has a very normal story. It’s Sholay.”

He continued, “In Sholay, you have Sanjeev Kumar’s Thakur, who needs to take revenge for his family being wiped out. And two people come in and help him — Jai (Amitabh Bachchan) and Veeru (Dharmendra). Over here, it’s Zafira (Fatima Sana Shaikh) whose family gets wiped out. She needs help, and Firangi (Aamir) comes in,” explained Aamir. “It’s a very similar format. So, Jai and Veeru are the heroes of the film, but it’s not their story. It’s Thakur’s story. Similarly, it’s not Firangi’s story. It’s Zafira’s story. So, in terms of its formula, it was more similar to a film like Sholay.”

Although the stories are different, the formula they use is very similar in terms of who the story’s main subject is.

“For casting reasons, we kept changing the script. I wouldn’t know I’d do a fundamental error, but sab se hota hai (it happens with everyone). We should not have changed the script even if we didn’t get the casting we wanted. So, when you’ve seen Thugs, you haven’t seen the original script that Victor (Acharya) had written because it went through a lot of changes.”

Despite the comparisons, Aamir still regrets changing the script just to make just his desired cast fit. The film had many flaws and that is why it couldn’t make it at the box office. The script changed so many times that it was barely similar to the original concept that they started out with.

Lead and social image credits: Yash Raj Films and Sippy Films