Farhan Akhtar’s directorial Dil Chahta Hai recently completed 25 years, and the film’s cast and director came together to recall their time shooting the cult classic. In a recent interaction, Aamir Khan and Farhan Akhtar recalled shooting a crucial scene in the film in which Akshaye Khanna slapped Aamir almost 17 times.
The film followed three college friends, played by Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna, as they navigated adulthood, relationships and their different paths in life. Released in 2001, Dil Chahta Hai was one of the films that changed the way Bollywood portrayed modern urban life, friendships and relationships.
The film’s director, Farhan Akhtar, quickly jumped in and revealed that Aamir himself had asked Akshaye to slap him hard. She revealed that she eventually slapped Saif thrice. Because it’s bringing me into a frame of mind which is helping me, then Aamir said, let it happen.
Farhan recalled, “Yes, it was. It’s filmmaking, it happens sometimes. That happened. He kept insisting on being slapped again and again. Farhan Akhtar shared that the slaps were so hard that Aamir’s face had swollen by the time they got the right shot. It was almost swollen on one side. Aamir Khan, however, shared that it was important for Akshaye to slap him for real as it worked well for the scene. This wasn’t the only slap incident on the sets of Dil Chahta Hai. Actor and model Suchitra Pillai, who played Saif Ali Khan’s onscreen girlfriend in the film, also shared her experience of slapping Saif for real during their scene. Suchitra recalled asking Farhan how she could slap Saif Ali Khan for real, as she wanted to hold back. However, Farhan directed her to ‘go ahead and slap him’. The film was written and directed by Farhan Akhtar in his directorial debut. It also starred Preity Zinta, Sonali Kulkarni and Dimple Kapadia in pivotal roles.
I told Aamir that he is really going to slap you, and Aamir said cool. But I told Akshaye that he’s expecting it at the end of this line, so do it while he is saying the line – that way there’s an element of surprise. He said, “By the time we finished, I remember he had a full mark on his face.
