‘Dangal’ is my best-acted film, made only one mistake in it: Aamir Khan
Mumbai (PTI): Bollywood star Aamir Khan says he considers "Dangal", the blockbuster 2016 sports drama, the finest film of his career, even though there was a single shot where he slipped out of character.
The actor, who played the role of Mahavir Singh Phogat in the Nitesh Tiwari-directed movie, said it was megastar Amitabh Bachchan who immediately noticed the flaw in his performance.
“It is difficult for me to say which is my favourite film. ‘Dangal’ is my best-acted film. There is only one shot in the film, which I did wrong, and Mr Amitabh Bachchan is so sharp that he got that shot. I asked him, ‘How did you find the film?’ and he said, ‘Very good but in one shot you were out of character.’
"The particular scene is during one of the wrestling sequences in the film I get up and say, ‘yes’, so that shot I got wrong because the character of Mahavir Phogat can never say yes. He could've said, ‘waah’ or ‘shabhash’ because ‘yes’ is a very English or Mumbai thing. That didn't get cleared in editing. So, in every film I've done something wrong, no film's perfect,” Aamir said.
Aamir was speaking last evening at the Red Lorry Film Festival, where his 1988 film, “Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak” was screened.
"Dangal" was based on the inspiring story of Phogat, who taught wrestling to his two daughters --Geeta and Babita (played by Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra). Geeta eventually won the gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
The film, which also featured Zaira Wasim, Suhani Bhatnagar, Sakshi Tanwar and Aparshakti Khurana, is the highest grossing Indian film with a reported earnings around Rs 2,000 crore.
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Baramati plane crash: Rohit Pawar alleges attempts to shield VSR Ventures
Mumbai (PTI): NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar on Wednesday alleged that someone was trying to save VSR Ventures in connection with the plane crash that killed Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, and claimed that the AAIB preliminary probe vindicated the doubts earlier raised by him.
He also accused VSR company of indulging in several grave lapses in the past.
The Learjet 45 aircraft, operated by VSR Ventures, crashed near the Baramati air strip in Pune district on January 28, killing Pawar and four others.
In its 22-page preliminary report on the VSR Venture's Learjet plane crash, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said the visibility at the time of the crash was below the required level. It also flagged about fading marks on the runway and presence of loose gravels on the runway surface.
Pawar said, "I am not against VSR or the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Ajitdada was travelling in a VSR aircraft. Unless we go into the depth of every aspect, we will not know the truth. But someone is trying to save this company. The doubts we had raised have been proven correct in the inquiry report."
He also claimed that the AAIB report contained discrepancies, including mentioning Baramati as a district, and questioned how seriously the probe had been conducted.
Pawar, who has been regularly holding press conferences to raise issues concerning the Baramati plane crash, also contested the report's conclusion that the aircraft hit trees before crashing.
"The report says the aircraft struck trees and then fell. But there are no trees at that spot. There is only a small bush which the aircraft did not even touch. What is stated in the report about hitting trees is incorrect," he said.
Pawar further alleged that VSR Ventures had displayed irresponsibility on multiple occasions, citing an incident involving the then chief minister Eknath Shinde's Davos visit on January 20, 2023.
He claimed that the aircraft carrying Shinde had entered Iranian and Iraqi airspace without overflight permission, following which fighter jets from the two countries allegedly warned of action, forcing a change in route from Bahrain to Zurich.
"There have been several such grave lapses by VSR," he said.
Pawar demanded to know from where VSR Ventures derived its "audacity", and sought details about its investors and officials, though he added that he was not personally concerned with who they were.
Drawing a comparison, he said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had taken over the probe into actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death within two days, whereas a month had passed since the Baramati crash without a similar action.
He claimed that VSR Ventures had two directors and three shareholders, and that there were eight common names across two related companies.
He further alleged that the owner of VSR was related to the Union Civil Aviation Minister and questioned why the company, though registered in Delhi, had made high-value investments in Jubilee Hills (upscale area in Hyderabad) at rates allegedly Rs 17 crore above the market price.
The MLA representing the Karjat-Jamkhed assembly constituency in Ahilyanagar district also raised concerns about the legal and institutional framework of the AAIB under the 2017 rules, claiming it was neither a statutory nor an autonomous body and remained answerable to the secretary and the minister, besides being attached to the DGCA.
"There is no independent investigative agency," he alleged.
