Aamir Khan on why he lost Darr to Shah Rukh Khan: 'Wanted a joint narration, got fired!'

Aamir Khan has come clean about his involvement in Yash Chopra's psychological thriller Darr—it was a disagreement over the narration format that led to his removal from the film. Along with Juhi Chawla and Sunny Deol, Shah Rukh Khan became famous for his role as an obsessive stalker in the 1993 thriller. Aamir has since stated that he was originally set to star in the film but was let go due to his demands for having a joint narration.

Aamir Khan clarifies he was fired, not that he rejected Darr

When the opportunity to star in Darr arose, Aamir dispelled the widespread belief that he had turned down the role by discussing the big films he never got around to making in an interview with Zoom. The superstar explained, "I didn’t say no to Darr. I said yes but I was fired from the film because I wanted a joint narration."

The basis of his request, he said, was his preferred method of collaboration when numerous important performers are involved in a film. According to him, "There were two actors and I have this principle that if there are two actors then the director should give a joint narration and Yash ji did not want to do that so he fired me. Everyone has their own way of working. I think when two people are working together, they should listen to the narration together so we can work together as a team."

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Consistent practice in other films like Andaz Apna Apna

Aamir claims that this was not an isolated incident. While working with Salman Khan in Rajkumar Santoshi's Andaz Apna Apna (1994), he stuck to the same method. Despite Salman's repeated absences from potential combined narrations, he claimed that he would not move forward without him. Aamir revealed, "Like in Andaz Apna Apna, when Rajkumar Santoshi was narrating for the first time… Salman cancelled the meeting thrice. We got there but he wasn’t present. His secretary said, ‘Salman will listen to it later; you guys carry on; he is doing the film.’ I said I won’t listen to it either. I will only listen to it when Salman is present. He cancelled thrice but we finally listened to it together."

Sunny, who played the film's traditional hero, allegedly felt his part was eclipsed by Shah Rukh's portrayal after Darr came out. The ensuing animosity between Sunny and Shah Rukh lasted for decades, until SRK's attendance at the 2023 success party of Gadar 2 finally put an end to it.