The Academy Award-winning 1994 film Forrest Gump is considered a cult classic in world cinema and it also earned its lead actor Tom Hanks his second consecutive Oscar in the Best Actor category. So, when it was announced that it was being officially remade in Hindi as Laal Singh Chaddha with Aamir Khan stepping into Hanks’ shoes, I was really excited to see it come alive on screen. And now we have a date for it too as the film will be releasing on Baisakhi next year.
Laal Singh Chadha was announced in March 2019 with an initial scheduled release on Christmas 2020. But the Covid pandemic played spoilsport and the release had to be pushed. The next release date was announced to be February 11, 2022, however, today the makers gave a new opening date for the film as April 14, 2022.
Here’s the announcement:
The film is an adaptation of Forrest Gump which was originally based on the 1986 novel by the same name by Winston Groom. In the Indian adaptation, the story follows the life of the titular character, who is an autistic man with a great understanding of emotions, as events in India’s history unfold through his perspective.
Laal Singh Chadha also features Kareena Kapoor Khan as the titular character’s girlfriend, Mona Singh and Naga Chaitanya, for whom the film will mark his Hindi film debut. The Indian adaptation of the screenplay written by Eric Roth, is done by Atul Kulkarni and the film is helmed by Advait Chandan. It is produced by Aamir, Kiran Rao, and Viacom18 Studios and features music by Pritam with lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya.
The film is also rumoured to have cameo appearances by Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan, and if that turns out to be true it will be one of the biggest events to ever happen on the Hindi film screens, having the three Khans together.
It’s a big task to match up to the cult status and legacy left behind by Forrest Gump and Hanks as the titular character, but if there’s anyone in Indian cinema that could match up to him, I believe, it definitely is Aamir. It has been three years since his last appearance on screen with Thugs Of Hindostan, so it is a big deal for him too. Also, he is not called the perfectionist for no reason.