When perfectionist Aamir Khan wouldn’t budge on a single shot, Prahlad Kakkar put his foot down: ‘Don’t question my judgement’

Prahlad Kakkar recalled the time when he had to put his foot down in front of 'perfectionist' Aamir Khan.

Aamir Khan in a Pepsi ad in the 1990s.

Prahlad Kakkar, who made some of the most popular ad films of the 1990s and 2000s, recently recalled the time when he was shooting an ad with Aamir Khan, and the actor’s perfectionsim led to heated exchanges between the two. Prahlad said that this was the now-famous Pepsi ad with Aamir and Aishwarya Rai, and asserted that he was very particular about Aamir not coming across as ‘lecherous’ in it.

In a chat with News 18, Prahlad shared that during the making of the ad film, there was a shot where the filmmaker felt that Aamir should be more ‘spontaneous’. “I saw the rushes, and I told Aamir that there is one shot that I feel that you need to be a little more spontaneous, where you see the girl for the first time. There was no way I would risk him being lecherous. It had to be genuine surprise and pleasure, and we had done about 5-6 takes, and I said I think we have it, but just in case we don’t, I will ask you to come again and redo that one shot. That stuck in his head that maybe it’s not okay,” he recalled.

But as Prahlad finished editing, he realised that the ad worked perfectly well and sent it to the agency. Meanwhile, Aamir was worried because Prahlad never asked him to come back to redo the shot. “He was sulking a bit,” Prahlad recalled. When he had a word with the actor, he was pretty upset, as he was under the impression they were releasing the film with a “bad shot.” Even though Prahlad insisted that the “shot is fine,” Aamir wouldn’t budge, leading to a heated exchange.

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But ultimately, Prahlad had to put his foot down. “I said Aamir, ‘You think it’s your film. I will tell you it’s not, it is my film. Just as much as you are not willing to compromise your work, I am not willing to compromise mine. My reputation is at stake. I don’t think it’s fair for you to turn around and question my judgment’,” Prahlad said.

Aamir wanted to check the film before it went on air, so Prahlad sent the film to the actor with his wife. “He watched it some 16 times,” he said. Aamir was accompanied by some friends and when they also endorsed that the film was fine, he agreed. This ad became popular after Aishwarya became Miss World in 1994.

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