Aamir Khan announces Hindi remake of Forrest Gump; 10 things to know about the original Tom Hanks film

By Gurpreet Kaur

on March 14, 2019

Aamir Khan is undoubtedly one of the most talented actors in Bollywood, however, his last cinematic outing, Thugs of Hindostan, didn't find resonance among his fans and fell flat at the box-office as well. But to everyone's surprise, the actor announced on his 54th birthday today that he would be starring in the official Hindi remake of Tom Hanks starrer Forrest Gump, to be titled as Lal Singh Chaddha.

Interestingly, Aamir will portray the role of a Sikh and will also wear a turban for a certain part of the film apart from reducing 20 kgs for the part. Now as we await the project, which will be helmed by Secret Superstar fame Advait Chandan and produced by Aamir Khan Productions and Viacom 18, here are a few interesting things you need to know about the original film, Forrest Gump:

[caption id="attachment_229855" align="aligncenter" width="647"] Tom Hanks and Aamir Khan[/caption]

The romantic comedy-drama, which released in 1994, won the film six Oscars including Best Film, Best Actor for Tom Hanks and Best Director for Robert Zemeckis.
It is about a slow-witted man from Alabama, who unwittingly influences American historical events in the 20th century but goes about life largely unaware of their significance.
Forrest Gump is based on Winston Groom’s 1986 novel of the same name.
John Travolta was the first choice of the makers to play Forrest but after he turned the role down, Bill Murray and John Goodman were also considered. However, the role, as we all know, eventually went to Tom Hanks.
Every time Forrest appears in a still picture in the film, he has his eyes closed.
Not to forget, a sequel of the novel was published in 1995, and in 2001 Forrest Gump writer Eric Roth turned it into a screenplay. But the actor and the director decided to not take it up further.
Tom Hanks gave the iconic line "My name is Forrest Gump. People call me Forrest Gump" spontaneously while shooting the scene.
Sally Field, who played Forrest's mother, is just ten years older than Tom Hanks.
Tom Hanks signed the film after an hour and a half of reading the script. He loved it so much.
Tom Hanks didn't actually take a fee for his role. Instead, he took a percentage of the box office collections, which got him around $40 million. It was the highest grossing film of 1994.