Overview

• Aamir Khan says he stood by casting Fatima Sana Shaikh as his romantic lead despite concerns over their recent father-daughter pairing in Dangal
• Several top actresses including Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt and Shraddha Kapoor declined the female lead before Shaikh was signed
• Khan alleges Yash Raj Films repeatedly rewrote the screenplay and chopped major twists, among them a planned interval death for Amitabh Bachchan’s character
• He contends that axing the romantic subplot ignored audience discernment and left the narrative structurally unsound
• The actor describes an eight-month clash with producer Aditya Chopra and director Vijay Krishna Acharya over these creative choices that he says led to the film’s flop