Vikram Bhatt’s 1998 action film Ghulam stars Aamir Khan as the protagonist and Sharat Saxena as the villain. In a recent interview, Saxena spoke about how he got the role but no work post that.

Aamir Khan and Rani Mukerji starrer, 1998 action film Ghulam remains one of the most iconic works of their career. The Vikram Bhatt directorial is also known for its powerful villain played by Sharat Saxena. In a recent interview, Saxena spoke about how Khan had recommended his name for the project. Let’s find out what he said.

Sharat Saxena on Ghulam

In an interview with Rajshri Unplugged, Sharat Saxena spoke about the 1998 film Ghulam. He said that it was the movie’s lead actor Aamir Khan who had suggested his name for the role as he felt the actor would “look good in a boxer’s role.”

Sharat later met Khan at the producer’s house for a success party and asked him about the role. Saxena said, “(Aamir Khan) said whenever I have seen you, I have seen you in small roles but you always do them well, which is why I suggested your name.’

Pinkvilla and Sharat Saxena Instagram

In the same interview, Saxena said that despite getting praise for his performance, he did not get much work after Ghulam. The actor revealed that the industry “shut down” because of Gulshan Kumar’s sudden demise. “No one was announcing films, no one was releasing films. I did not get the work I could have gotten in that period, this was a tragedy in my life,” he added.

Aamir Khan thought that Rani Mukerji’s voice is ‘not suited’ for Ghulam

In August, at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne, Rani Mukerji revealed an interesting anecdote about the film. She said that Aamir Khan, Mukesh Bhatt and Vikram Bhatt thought that her voice needed to be more ‘shrill’ and decided to dub her.

She revealed, “They collectively took the decision to dub my voice because they thought that mainstream actresses should have a shrill voice. They did not believe that women need to have a voice like me, which is ‘sexy and very empowering.”

Upon release, Ghulam turned out to be a major critical and commercial success.