Did You Know Aamir Khan Consumed One Litre Of Vodka For Raja Hindustani?

It was a simple story of a small town cab driver falling in love with a rich woman in Dharmesh Darshan’s Raja Hindustani that connected with the audience. The Bollywood film hit theatres in the year 1996 and went on to earn huge moolah at the box office. What worked for the movie was the chemistry of the lead pair, Aamir Khan and Karisma Kapoor. And their famous on-screen kiss also became the talk of the town.

Movie buffs also fell in love with the music. Songs such as Poocho Zara Poocho, Aaye Ho Meri Zindagi Mein, Pardesi Pardesi and Tere Ishq Mein Nachenge sung by Alka Yagnik, Kumar Sanu, Udit Narayan, among others, became popular. The music was composed by Nadeem-Shravan and Sameer had penned down the lyrics.

Apart from all this, did you know that the Juhi Chawla was supposed to play the female lead but she turned down the offer because of Aamir or that there was this particular scene that comes after the song Tere Ishq Mein Nachenge that Aamir liked a lot but never got shot? There are more such interesting facts about the film that you might like to know, take a look at a few of them:

1. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was offered the lead role opposite Aamr but she turned it down as she was not sure if she would take up acting as a career. The film was also offered to Juhi Chawla but she did not do the film due to problems with Aamir.

2. Dharmesh, in fact, was keen on having Pooja Bhatt on board but reportedly Aamir wanted to work with someone he has never worked before. So the director signed Karisma.

3. After the song Tere Ishq Mein Nachenge, there was a scene that both Aamir and Dharmesh liked but it never got shot because the film crew suggested that the scene was too intense for a popular film like Raja Hindustani. The scene was — as a humiliated and inebriated Raja (Aamir) leaves his wife’s (Karisma) house, he walks slowly towards the train station and the beggars sitting on the side of the road, recite a poem by Urdu poet Kaifi Azmi that mirrors Raja’s state of mind.

4. At first, Aamir was not ready to sign the film, but Dharmesh convinced him saying that film has huge commercial potential.

5. The famous kiss between Aamir and Karisma is considered as one of the longest in a Bollywood film. And Dharmesh was worried about the scene, he did not want it to look vulgar and therefore aesthetically shot with less music, minus any drama.

6. While working on the film, Dharmesh was so impressed by Aamir’s acting skills that he complimented him with the remark, ‘I see Dilip Kumar in you’.

7. Mala Sinha’s daughter Pratibha Sinha was Dharmesh’s childhood friend. When he wanted someone to be a part of the Pardesi Pardesi song and had only Pratibha in mind. And Dharmesh, in an earlier interview revealed that to motivate her he used to tell her that of all the films she is doing, she will be remembered for this song only.

8. Along with Karisma’s acting in the film, the actor also received appreciation for her makeover for the film.

9. Aamir drank alcohol for the time in the film. He actually consumed a litre of vodka so as to shoot the track Tere ishq mein naachenge in the film and make it look real.

10. The first cut of this love story was about 4 hours and 25 minute long, before it was edited to a 2 hour 54 minute movie.