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Lucking in: Jimmy Sheirgill | KJo shows the media-savvy Bashir the door
Aamir Bashir has been given the boot from Karan Johar's My Name Is Khan. The actor was to play Shah Rukh Khan's younger brother in the film that is presently being filmed in Los Angeles. Jimmy Sheirgill will now essay the part, and is expected to join the unit soon.
As reported ('No entry'; Hitlist, December 23), Aamir was among the several Muslim members of KJo's cast and crew who were denied US visas post the 26/11 terror attacks. They were surprised by the rejections and so was Karan, as they were only heading there for the shoot.
Unceremonious exit
All of them then submitted fresh applications to the US consulate and waited patiently for their second chance except for Aamir. He chose to speak about his predicament to the media.
Says a source, "This worsened the situation not only for Aamir but also for the rest of the unit. Karan did not like his outburst in the media. He tried hard to arrange for the visas for the rest but kept Aamir out of the picture. Later, he decided to drop him from the project and take Jimmy instead."
Adds the source, "The reason why KJo had to take a decision was because he did not want any of his cast/crew members to disclose information about the goings-on of his film. He felt having the media- savvy Aamir on board would result in leaks about MNIK."
Aamir says, "I don't want to say anything. The last time I spoke in the media created a lot of problems. I have nothing to state."
Interestingly, both Aamir and Jimmy co-starred in Neeraj Pandey's A Wedesday a film that KJo raved about in his blog and probably influenced the casting. So even when he dropped Aamir, he took on his A Wednesday co-star Jimmy who even bagged the V Shantaram award for the film.
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