John Matthew Matthan’s Sarfarosh was a turning point in Aamir Khan’s career. The actor had only done romantic films till then and this film changed his career trajectory and established him as a versatile actor. However, John’s friends who were funding the film didn’t have enough faith in him and wanted to cast Shah Rukh Khan instead.
The Indian Express quoted John as saying, “I met my friend Manmohan Shetty, who owned Adlabs, and told him that I want to make a film. Around this time, Shetty had started Entertainment One to produce feature films. He had funded two films of my friends, both of which starred Shah Rukh Khan. One was Vikram Mehrotra’s Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, directed by Kundan Shah and the other was Praveen Nischol’s English Babu Desi Mem, both starring SRK. So at that time, all of them suggested I take Shah Rukh. I said, ‘Listen, I don’t think Shah Rukh suits my role. I don’t have him in my mind,’ but they said that we would be able to save more money as the three of us could get a deal, but I didn’t want to.”
Talking about why he had faith in Aamir’s potential, John said, “Then I met Aamir. He read the script and said yes. So then I started studying Aamir, what he had done and he had done only love stories. I felt that was good because he was unassuming. For example, if you see Spiderman, when you see that guy first, you know that he is not going to be able to do anything, but he becomes Spiderman and you start believing he can do it. So I needed a hero who transforms, then you are with him, rooting for him because you feel that this guy is too vulnerable. In a realistic movie like Sarfarosh, I needed the audience to feel for the guy. With all three considerations, I was sure I wanted Aamir.”
John added, “Before Sarfarosh, Aamir was a different guy. He was doing only love stories. Nobody dared take him in an action film, whereas in his heart of hearts, he wanted to do films which were different, more realistic and that why he agreed to do my film. However, when he did my film, he had his apprehensions. He didn’t think it is a commercial film. I knew that the film wouldn’t create waves, but it would certainly create ripples. I wouldn’t put my money in a film if I knew the movie wouldn’t recover it. I didn’t know how much money I’d make, but I was confident that the film will recover its cost.”
Sarfarosh has marked 25 years since its release. The film came out on April 30, 1999.
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