Actor Kareena Kapoor Khan played the role of Rupa D’Souza in the 2022 film Laal Singh Chaddha, which contrary to expectations, didn’t perform well at the box office. The film’s debacle led actor Aamir Khan, who played the titular character, to reflect on his work and take a break from acting. Kareena said that while she didn’t discuss the film’s box office performance with Aamir after the release, she met him a few months later and sensed his sadness.
In an interview with Midday India, Kareena spoke at length about how a film’s box office performance cannot be a yardstick to judge her friendships with people like Aamir. She also tried to figure out what led to the failure of the film.
Laal Singh Chaddha had a weak opening of Rs 11.7 crore in India. The collections didn’t pick up over the next few days and the film closed at Rs 61.36 crore, failing to join the Rs 100 crore club.
Kareena said that Aamir had started living his character but maybe the audience was not ready for an intense film like Laal Singh Chaddha.
She said, “Aamir was living that character. He had become Laal.” On being asked what in her opinion led to the film’s debacle, Kareena added, “Covid had just happened and everything was slowly opening up and people maybe wanted something more energetic and fun. It (the film) was slightly emotional.”
When asked if she would call Laal Singh Chaddha an ‘arthouse’ film, the actor said, “I wouldn’t say arthouse. Maybe there were these big names attached to the film like Aamir and me, they wanted something more coming out this time. I think it was slightly dark.”
However, Laal Singh Chaddha’s box office failure didn’t affect Kareena’s relationship with Aamir or the film’s director Advait Chandan. Kareena said, “After the film, I was busy. I gave birth and had another child during Covid-19. There was so much going on at that time. So, I never really met Aamir after the film. I bumped into him at an NMACC event and I saw it in his eyes that he was a bit apologetic, he was sad about the fact that ‘why did this happen’ and also we have done such great work together with a big blockbuster like 3 idiots, Talaash, so somewhere there was that feeling.”
