Academy gives a thumbs up to Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha

Despite a mediocre collection at the box office thus far, Aamir Khan's latest film, Laal Singh Chaddha, the official remake of Forrest Gump, received praise from many, including The Academy. Yes, you read it right! The official Twitter page of The Academy shared a video featuring a compilation of scenes from both films. In a tweet, The Academy hailed Laal Singh Chaddha as a "faithful adaptation" of Forest Gump.

“Robert Zemeckis and Eric Roth’s sweeping story of a man who changed the world with kindness received a faithful Indian adaptation in Advait Chandan and Atul Kulkarni’s Laal Singh Chaddha feat. Aamir Khan in the role made famous by Tom Hanks,” the tweet read.

Originally released in theatres on July 6, 1994, Forrest Gump was a critical and commercial smash, grossing $ 677 million worldwide. It was nominated for a whopping 13 Academy Awards and earned six trophies, including best actor for Hanks and best director for Zemeckis. Co-starring Robin Wright, Sally Field and Gary Sinise, the film is based on the novel by Winston Groom.

Reacting to the tweet by The Academy, co-producer Ajit Andhare of Viacom18 Studios, congratulated the cast and crew.

Advait Chandan’s directorial Laal Singh Chaddha was released on August 11. Apart from Aamir, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Naga Chaitanya and Mona Singh are also a part of the film.

Stating how Atul Kulkarni had special reasons to make the character a Sikh, Aamir told Galatta Plus, “Atul, in his adaptation, had already placed him as a Sikh. When we received it as a script, we were already reading a Sikh character. It felt very natural and organic to us. So, none of us questioned why he was a Sikh.”

Further, Aamir added, “Now that I think about it, technically, the protagonist could be anyone. But I think Atul did that because, in our timeline of recent socio-political history, 1983–84 was crucial. The Sikh community went through a lot of difficulties at that time.”

The Aamir Khan-starrer clashed at the box office with Akshay Kumar’s Raksha Bandhan, which minted Rs 8.20 crore on day one. Laal Singh Chaddha is bankrolled by Aamir Khan Productions, Kiran Rao, and Viacom18 Studios.