The story behind Thugs of Hindostan’s casting and failure is a fascinating insight into big-budget Bollywood filmmaking.
Despite being a major project with a star-studded cast, the film struggled right from the casting stage.
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Aamir Khan recently revealed that actresses like Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt, and Shraddha Kapoor all turned down the film because of the terms, including being asked to work for almost free.
So Fatima Sana Shaikh got the role, but the makers were hesitant to pair her with Aamir because of their previous father-daughter on-screen relationship in Dangal – a notion Aamir himself found limiting and believed underestimated the audience’s intelligence.
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The troubles didn’t stop at casting. Aamir Khan revealed that the script went through multiple changes over several months, including removing key characters and changing major plot points like Amitabh Bachchan’s character dying at the interval.
These constant changes were due to creative differences, which must have affected the film’s coherence and appeal.
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Thugs of Hindostan was ambitious – a period action-adventure set during the East India Company’s expansion – but despite the scale and star power, it didn’t connect with the audience or critics and barely recovered its massive budget.
Ultimately, it turned out to be one of the biggest disasters in Bollywood history.
This is a case where even big names and big budgets can’t guarantee success without a strong and consistent vision and respectful collaboration among the cast and crew.
It also shows how important it is to have realistic casting and trust the audience to appreciate the performances without being constrained by past roles or industry stereotypes.
