Vikram Bhatt REVEALS Why Rani Mukerji's Voice Was Dubbed In Ghulam: 'What We Thought Before Casting...'

Aamir Khan’s Ghulam is considered to be one of the most iconic films of his career. The Vikram Bhatt directorial was the remake of Hollywood film ‘On the Waterfront’ and it gave widespread acclaim to Rani Mukerji, who just entered the entertainment industry. However, in the film, the actress’s voice was dubbed by Mona Shetty. Rani Mukerji has previously shared that makers found her voice not suitable for the audience and that’s why they wanted it to be dubbed by a professional artist. Now, Vikram Bhatt has addressed the controversy around it.

Speaking with Siddharth Kanan, Vikram Bhatt explained, “I want to address this controversy once for all. When Rani was to be cast in Ghulam, I myself had suggested her. I had seen her work in Raja Ki Ayegi Baraat and she had done very good acting. Someone told me ‘that film did not work, people did not like her voice and thought it was weird.’ I said, ‘Voice can be dubbed, the girl is a good actor and even looks good.’ So sometimes these things stick and no one thinks a lot. What we thought before casting, we did it. There was no conscious effort behind this. We laugh about it. She knows I would not do anything like that to her.”

The film-maker also recalled the fallout between Aamir Khan and Mahesh Bhatt after the film was released, “When Aamir Khan and Bhatt saab parted ways on the sets of Ghulam, Aamir said, ‘I want Ghulam to be the most important thing in your life’. Bhatt saab said, ‘It cannot be. This is not the most important thing for me.’ Both of them were very honest. For me it was (important) because I only had Fareeb at that time and so I had a lot of fun. If today Aamir says, ‘I want you to do Ghulam and I want it to be the most important thing,’ I will say it cannot be.” When asked about his relationship with Aamir, the filmmaker said, “We are in touch. He came for my daughter’s wedding. We speak on phone sometimes. We are in touch.”

Ghulam released in 1998 and was quite a big hit. Even before its release, Aamir’s song ‘Aati Kya Khandala’became a hit and after the release, it attained a cult following.