Farah Khan Reveals The Excuse Aamir Khan Gave Her For Not Appearing In Deewangi Deewangi

Apart from being Deepika Padukone's debut Hindi film, Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om is much loved for its star-studded song Deewangi Deewangi. Now more than a decade later, the choreographer-turned-director opened up about how she got all the stars onboard. Farah, in her conversation with Maniesh Paul on his podcast, also revealed that she wanted Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan to be part of Deewangi Deewangi. Farah, who choreographed the song, said that “Bollywood's Mr Perfectionist [Aamir Khan]” gave her “the funniest” excuse.

Farah Khan said, “We called a lot of stars who eventually did not come. Amit [Amitabh Bachchan] ji could not come. Abhishek and Aishwarya were getting married that week, so he couldn't come.”

On why Aamir Khan wasn't a part of Deewangi Deewangi, Farah Khan said that he was busy editing Taare Zameen Par. Recalling the incident, Farah said, “Aamir's was the funniest. He kept me hanging and in the end, he gave me the reason that he was editing Taare Zameen Par. I said, ‘Just come, I will get it done in two hours.'” 

Farah Khan continued, “Then he [Aamir Khan] called me and said, ‘Farah, I am editing. If I leave the editing for two hours and come for the shoot, my film will be delayed for six months.' Then I said, ‘You please don't come.' Later when I asked him about this reason, he said, ‘I did not want to come.”

Starring Deepika Padukone and Shah Rukh Khan in the lead roles, Om Shanti Om was released in 2007. Arjun Rampal essayed the role of an antagonist in the movie. Deewangi Deewangi featured stars like Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Priyanka Chopra, Rekha, Tabu, Karisma Kapoor, Dharmendra, Jeetendra, Mithun Chakraborty, Kajol, Rani Mukerji and Juhi Chawla among others. While Om Shanti Om hit the theatres on November 9, Aamir Khan and Darsheel Safary's Taare Zameen Par was released on December 21. Both the films were released in 2007.