Junaid Khan talks about Kiran Rao choosing Sparsh Shrivastava over him for her directorial Laapataa Ladies.
Kiran Rao’s 2023 comedy drama Laapataa Ladies received critical acclaim and was even selected as India’s official entry for the 97th Academy Awards. Sparsh Shrivastava who played the role of Deepak was hailed by the critics and the audience for his earnest performance in his film.
But do you know that Aamir Khan‘s son Junaid Khan had also given a screen test for this role? However, the film’s director Kiran Rao ultimately chose Sparsh Shrivastava over him as she felt that he would a better fit to play Deepak.
In a chat with Vickey Lalwani on his YouTube channel, Junaid made this revelation and shared, “Laapataa Ladies was a very different scenario. I did a screen test for the film, but Kiran just said, ‘Sparsh Shrivastava is better for the part,’ and I agree with her. He was better suited for the role.”
The actor said that despite not being cast in Laapataa Ladies, her decision didn’t affect his relationship with his step-mother Kiran. He said their equation is very good, and called her a “very fun and warm person.”
Junaid also spoke about auditioning for Laal Singh Chaddha, and how the makers ultimately decided to cast his superstar father because it was risky to introduce a new face in a high-budget film.
“You would have seen me in Laal Singh Chaddha because I tested for it, along with Kiran Rao. She played my mother. We shot 7-8 scenes for the film over four days, amounting to about 20 minutes of footage. It was a test for me as well. Papa wanted to see how I dealt with the material. Ultimately, it didn’t work out, largely due to budget reasons. It was a very expensive film to put a new person in,” the star kid shared in his interview.
Junaid made his acting debut last year with the Netflix film Maharaj. His next is Advait Chandan’s upcoming romantic comedy Loveyapa alongside Khushi Kapoor. The film is reportedly a remake of Pradeep Ranganathan’s 2022 Tamil hit Love Today.
