Mr Perfectionist Vs Ravi Kishan: Who did it better?

Wondering where this picture of Aamir is from? Well, it’s one of those rare occasions when Mr Perfectionist had to audition for a role – a task he first undertook for another Kiran Rao film, Dhobi Ghat. This time, however, Kiran wasn’t convinced that Aamir was right for the role
‘Kiran didn’t trust I’d be convincing in a grey role’
Did you know that Aamir Khan auditioned for the role of the paan-chewing police inspector in the acclaimed Laapataa Ladies? But director Kiran Rao had other plans for the role. The YouTube channel of Aamir Khan Productions recently shared a clip of the failed screen test to give fans a view of what Laapataa Ladies could have been like had the role of Inspector Manohar been played by Aamir instead of Ravi Kishan.
‘DID A SCREEN TEST AS I WAS KEEN ON DOING THE ROLE’
The clip is a part of a chat between Kiran Rao, co-writer Divya Nidhi Sharma (who wrote the inspector’s character), and lead actor Sparsh Srivastava. Sparsh asked, “Whose idea was the paan addition?”
When Kiran revealed, “It was one of the ideas that Aamir had quite early on for the role,” Sharma chimed in, “Kyunki pehle Aamir sir karne wale thay.”
Turns out, Aamir was quite serious about playing the part. At the screening of the film at a fest in California last year, Aamir he was asked which role he would have picked if he were acting in the film. He revealed, “I tried to! But she (Kiran) didn’t take me in the film. I wanted to play the cop. I even did a screen test, but I was rejected... I did a screen test because I was really keen on doing that role. And honestly, I think my screen test was pretty good.” To which Kiran agreed, “Yes, it was.”
Aamir shared that Kiran and he decided to cast Ravi Kishan for the role instead. “We both took that decision jointly,” he said at the event.

The balance of the film would have tipped a little: Kiran
Sharing the real reason why Aamir was rejected, Kiran said, “Obviously, Aamir’s screen test was good, and he was ready to completely change for the role. But I felt that the balance of the film would have tipped a little. The character does a flip in the end, even though he stays kind of fairly grey throughout. It shows that he has an empathetic side to him. But with Aamir, you would have expected him to do something like this in the end because he is Aamir Khan. Expectations would have been set because it was him.” Aamir quipped, “She didn’t trust me as an actor. She didn’t trust that I would convince the audience that I am very grey person. Maybe next time I will impress her more!”