Introduction

Laal Singh Chaddha is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film directed by Advait Chandan from a screenplay by Eric Roth and Atul Kulkarni. Produced by Aamir Khan Productions and Viacom18 Studios, it is a remake of the 1994 American film Forrest Gump which itself is an adaptation of the novel of the same name. The film stars Aamir Khan as the title character alongside Kareena Kapoor, Naga Chaitanya (in his Hindi film debut) and Mona Singh.

The adaptation of Forrest Gump underwent a series of changes over a period of two decades, with Kulkarni spending the first ten years adapting the script, and another ten years purchasing the remake rights. Aamir Khan bought the rights of the film in early 2018 with the help of Los Angeles-based producer and director Radhika Chaudhari and announced the film officially on 14 March 2019, with its title. The film's score is by Tanuj Tiku, while its original songs are composed by Pritam and their lyrics are written by Amitabh Bhattacharya.

Laal Singh Chaddha has been filmed in more than 100 Indian locations. Principal photography began in October 2019 and concluded in September 2021, after multiple delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film was initially scheduled for cinema release during multiple dates in 2020–2022, but kept getting delayed due to the production halt caused by the pandemic, and was theatrically released worldwide on 11 August 2022, coinciding with Raksha Bandhan and Independence Day. It opened to mixed reviews from critics. Against its ₹180 crore budget, the film generated a worldwide revenue of less than ₹90 crore in its first week and was thus declared a box office bomb.

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Plot

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Laal was named after his ancestors, and his mother had high expectations for him. His legs were weak, but his mother never let his spirits get shaky. She always told him that he was no different from others. She told him to not believe anyone who tells him that he is not capable of doing stuff on his own. The only person who treated Laal like an equal was a girl named Rupa D’souza. Both the kids hung out together after school, and Rupa often didn’t want to go back to her home. Laal was always subjected to a lot of bullying. Boys often picked on him and mocked him. One day, a group of fellow students started pelting stones at Laal when he was going back home. Rupa was with him, and she told him to run and save himself from those boys. Laal started hobbling with his leg braces on. Slowly, the nuts and bolts of the braces started loosening. The metal started clunking and finally the braces broke into pieces. Laal realized that he could run. From that day onwards, wherever Laal had to go, he used to run and make it there.

One day, Rupa didn’t come to school, and Laal went to visit her. He found Rupa sitting outside her house sobbing. Her mother was being subjected to domestic abuse. It happened quite often, but still, Rupa could never get used to that traumatizing sight and the voice of her mother asking her father to show some mercy. And how could she? She lived in a state of constant fear. She prayed to her God to make her rich, so that one day she could make the violence stop and give her father all the money he needed. But that day, it went a bit too far. The mother met her fateful end, and the father was taken in by the police. Rupa was sent to live with her grandmother, who used to work at Laal’s house. Laal was happy, because now Rupa was with him always. Laal’s mother sent him and Rupa to Hindu College in Delhi to pursue their graduation. In the university Laal took part in all the track events, whereas Rupa started taking part in modeling competitions. She realized that if she became a model or an actress, she could earn a lot of money. She started fueling the dream of going to Mumbai and earning a lot of money. Laal’s mother had a unique way of sheltering her only child from the vices of the world. Whenever the country was burning with hate, she told him that malaria had spread and that he was only safe if he stayed inside his room.

Laal locked himself indoors whenever the country was fuming with hate and anger, be it during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, the 1990 Rathyatra, or the Mandal Commission riots. Laal joined the Army, and Rupa went to Mumbai to make her dream of becoming an actress into reality. Laal met Balaraju Bodi in the Army, who eventually became his very good friend. Bodi’s family had been in the business of undergarments since time immemorial. Bodi pitched the idea of opening an undergarment factory once they left the Army. He asked Laal to be his business partner, to which the latter happily agreed. It was 1999, and India was in a state of war with Pakistan. Laal and Bala were in the same battalion. Their troops were given a mission to capture one of the peaks, occupied by infiltrators. The Indian Army misjudged the number of Pakistani soldiers, who had an advantage as they had an elevated vantage point. Rupa had told Laal to start running as soon as he felt that his life was in danger. He did exactly that. But when he reached the foot of the cliff, he realized that his friend Bala was left behind. He went back again, but every time he found some other fellow soldier who was injured and asking for help. He saw the Pakistani commander also lying on the ground. He didn’t know who was the enemy and who was a friend. He picked him up too, on his shoulders, and brought him down. He couldn’t save Bala, but he did save five other soldiers, for which he was awarded a medal by the Indian government.

Rupa never responded to any letters that Laal sent her. Rupa had been charged with obscenity, and a lot of people, organizations, and NGOs were protesting against her. She later got associated with a lot of bad people. She wanted to become rich quickly. She wanted to take the shortest possible route, and obviously, it got her into a lot of trouble. She became the mistress of a gangster who took advantage of her, showed her dreams but never intended on fulfilling them(parallels are made to the controversial relationship of the infamous gangster Abu Salem and Monica Bedi ). Rupa could never become an actress. Laal kept meeting her at regular intervals. Once, he went to meet her and saw the gangster slapping her. He couldn’t resist the urge and ended up beating the gangster. Rupa told him that he couldn’t keep saving her throughout her life and that he would have to let her be. Rupa knew that Laal was the only person who loved her unconditionally, and the others were just there to take advantage. She loved him too, but she wanted something very different from her life. She wanted to be rich at any cost.

Laal finally opened that production business for innerwear, as Bala had wanted. He stitched undergarments together with two other tailors, but they didn’t know how to market their product. That’s when Mohammed Baaji joined the team. Mohammed was the same Pakistani commander whose life Laal had saved. He had lost both his legs and didn’t know whether to thank Laal for saving his life or curse him for subjecting him to living a life of such misery. He told Laal that he was destined to die on the battlefield. He wanted to kill Laal, but how could he? Here was a pure soul who did not understand what hatred meant. He didn’t understand that you shouldn’t save the life of an enemy and let him die. For him, every human was equal, and he didn’t know how to differentiate between them. Mohammed Baaji knew that he owed his life to this mad man who only saw good in others. He had an idea that instead of Bala, if the brand was named after a girl, then maybe their sales would increase. Laal knew of only one girl. So his company was now called Rupa(a funny take on the knitwear giant). The sales started to grow exponentially, and soon the company was selling underwear to the whole of India. After a while, Mohammed Baaji decided to go back to his country and open a school. Laal’s mother also passed away, leaving him alone. He used to think about Rupa every now and then. He dedicated his whole time to agriculture as somebody had to look after his lands after his mother passed away. Rupa did come back to him one day, but the happiness was short-lived. The police came searching for her as she had links to the gangster. She was sent to prison for six months, and Laal was once again left alone. Rupa had gone without telling him. There was a lot of anger inside him. There was a lot of resentment, pain, and sadness that he was not able to deal with. So he started running. Maybe he was running from his past, from his loneliness and from his regrets. He thought that he might be able to escape it all. People on the other hand thought that he might be running for some great purpose. The media started covering his journey. He ran from the Himalayas to Kanyakumari. He ran from the desert in the west till he reached the Bay of Bengal in the east and covered almost every inch of the country on foot. After months of running, he suddenly stopped. People had started following him. They had started running with him. They asked him why he stopped. They waited for some philosophical answer. They waited for the truth about the bearded man to be revealed. But Laal was a simple man who only understood simple things. He said that he was tired and that he wanted to go back home.

When Laal reached home, he was pleasantly surprised to know that Rupa had written him a lot of letters. She had served her sentence and was now living in Chandigarh. Laal couldn’t wait to go and meet her. Laal met Rupa and found out that she had a kid named Aman. He thought that she would have married some other guy, but Rupa told him he was the father of the kid. Laal couldn’t express his joy. Rupa was suffering from an illness, and she knew that she didn’t have much time left. Laal decided to marry her, something he had been wanting to do since his childhood. Before Rupa left, Laal had already created memories for a lifetime. Laal took Aman to the same school that he had gone to. When he went to drop him off on his first day, it felt like he had opened a magical box of memories and nostalgia. He still remembered how his mother waited for him on the bench the whole day. He remembered how he met Rupa for the very first time. The circle of life had completed one revolution, and it was time for a fresh chapter to begin.

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Cast

• Aamir Khan as Laal Singh Chaddha
  • Ahmad Ibn Umar as young Laal
• Kareena Kapoor as Rupa D'Souza
  • Hafsa Ashraf as young Rupa
• Naga Chaitanya as Balaraju "Bala" Bodi
• Mona Singh as Mrs. Chaddha, Laal's mother
• Manav Vij as Mohammad, a Pakistan Army Commander who befriends Laal later
• Aaryaa Sharma
• Arun Bali as Old Man in train
• Jagat Rawat as Father of school
• Shah Rukh Khan as himself (cameo appearance)
• Kamini Kaushal (cameo appearance)

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Production

Development

In August 2018, Khan announced that he had purchased the remake rights of the 1994 American drama Forrest Gump, from Paramount Pictures, which produced the film, and also suggested he will play the lead role in this film. On 14 March 2019, coinciding with his 54th birthday, Khan officially announced the project which has been named Laal Singh Chaddha, with his ex-wife Kiran Rao co-producing the film. Advait Chandan, who previously directed Khan's Secret Superstar (2017), was signed in to direct the remake.

Kulkarni, who also worked with Khan in Rang De Basanti (2006), wrote the Hindi adaptation for the original. In an interview with Bollywood Hungama, Kulkarni said, "I wrote the script ten years ago, but Aamir took a couple of years because he did not believe that I must have written a good script. So he did not want to hurt me. After a few years, he heard the script and within 30 seconds he said I am going to do the film." Kulkarni also said that it took over seven years to get the remake rights from the makers of the original (Paramount), as the movie is solely based on the original. Once the studio confirmed with Radhika Chaudhari that the rights were available, Khan made a trip to Los Angeles in February 2018 and met with the studio heads along with Radhika Chaudhari and the process of acquisition started.^{[citation needed]}

Casting

Mukesh Chhabra was assigned as the casting director of the film. Aamir Khan playing the title character, Kareena Kapoor was confirmed to play the female lead role in June 2019, thus pairing up with Khan for the third time after 3 Idiots (2009) and Talaash: The Answer Lies Within (2012). Manushi Chhillar was first choice for leading lady but, already signed a contract with Yash Raj Films. In August 2019, Vijay Sethupathi was signed alongside Khan, however he later opted out due to other commitments. In September 2019, Yogi Babu was approached to play a pivotal role. In November 2019, Mona Singh who also starred in Khan's 3 Idiots, was also cast in the pivotal role. Aamir Khan lost 20 kilograms for the younger version of his role in the film. In May 2021, Naga Chaitanya was confirmed to be a part of the cast, making his Bollywood debut.

Filming

While the film's principal photography was expected to commence in October 2019, Khan and his team went on scouting location in April 2019, across Dharmasala for five days.

Laal Singh Chaddha is reportedly filmed in more than 100 Indian locations. The principal photography of the film was commenced on 31 October 2019, with a muhurat shot given by Khan's mother Zeenat Hussain. The first schedule took place at Chandigarh, on 1 November and was completed within 21 days. Stills featuring Khan and Kapoor from the sets were leaked onto the internet, with Khan's look featuring him with a thick beard and turban went viral. A romantic track featuring Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor was shot at Chandigarh on 28 November 2019.

The second schedule was kickstarted in Kolkata on 5 December 2019. Aamir Khan and his team flew to Kerala in the second week of December, where Khan's photos of shooting from Thekkumbhagam, Changanassery and Kappil went viral. Khan completed the second schedule on 19 December 2019,^{[citation needed]} and kickstarted the third schedule on 21 December 2019, with shooting took place in Jaisalmer, Goa and Himachal Pradesh. The third schedule was completed on 12 February 2020, and Khan headed to Chandigarh for their next schedule. The team wrapped up the last leg of shoot on 6 March 2020. The cast and crew flew back to shoot in Punjab on 16 March 2020, before production of the film got halted owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in India.

Aamir Khan cancelled the Ladakh schedule on 6 July, owing to the India-China standoff along the Galwan Valley. Later due to difficulties in shooting the film across India, Aamir decided to resume the film's shoot in Turkey, for the recce of new shoot. On 7 September 2020, Aamir Khan resumed the shooting of the film in Mumbai, with safety measures and guidelines instructed by the government. On 27 September 2020, Aamir and his team flew to Delhi to shoot some portions, with pictures featuring his younger version went viral. Some scenes were shot at the Hotel Centaur in Delhi on 7 October 2020. Kareena Kapoor wrapped up her portions on 15 October 2020.

Khan suffered a rib injury while shooting an action sequence, but ensuring that there is no delay in the shoot, the actor took a few pain killers to and tried to subside his injury for the time being and continued working as he knew that there were special arrangements made for the shooting schedule. Earlier, while shooting for an important running sequence, Aamir Khan had suffered extreme physical exertion due to constant running. The actor shot few sequences at a sports complex located at Noida on 28 October 2020.

In July 2021, Aamir Khan and his team flew to Ladakh, where they spent some one month and shot war sequences. After wrapping up the Ladakh schedule the team reached to Srinagar in the first week of August. In Srinagar, the shooting of the film was carried out at various places, some important sequences were shot at Delhi Public School Srinagar (DPS), Amar Singh College and Boulevard Road near Dal Lake. During shooting in the premises of DPS, a 12-year-old, visually impaired student Zainab Bilal aka RJ Zainab has interviewed Aamir Khan for the school's in-house radio station, Radio DPS. Chaitanya joined the production in July 2021 and completed shooting his portions by August 2021.

Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Prakash Vaghasiya were seen resuming the shoot of the film in Mumbai on 13 September. After wrapping up portions together last year, the two of them reunited for patchwork shoot in Andheri. The film was wrapped up on 16 September 2021.

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Music

The film score is composed by Tanuj Tiku while the original songs featured in the film are composed by Pritam, in his third collaboration with Aamir Khan after Dhoom 3 (2013) and Dangal (2016), and lyrics for the songs are written by Amitabh Bhattacharya.

The music sitting discussion was held at Khan's Panchgani House in August 2019, with composer Pritam and lyricist Bhattacharya, working on the film's music. The title track of Laal Singh Chaddha, which featured in the motion poster, was recorded by Mohan Kannan of the Agnee band in January 2020. The singer didn't initially know that he was singing for Aamir's film, who "loved" the song, a studio recording person told him. He mentioned in the article that lyricist Amitabh Bhattacharya has written a "gold" song and has beautifully "encapsulated the whole story". Sonu Nigam on his official YouTube page on 13 January 2022 mentioned that he just completed a recording of a "very beautiful" and "wonderfully written" song that took about 5 hours to record. The first song of the film Kahani was released on 28 April 2022. Sonu Nigam's song, Main Ki Karaan, was released on 12 May 2022. A song sung by Arijit Singh, Phir Na Aisi Raat Aayegi, released on 24 June 2022. The fourth song Tur Kalleyan took more than 6 weeks of shoot and was shot at multiple locations across India. The song was released on 15 July 2022. A second version of Kahani, sung by Sonu Nigam was released on 18 July 2022. Tere Hawaale, a duet sung by Arijit Singh and Shilpa Rao, was released on 4 August 2022.

The songs Kahani and Tur Kalleyan had been re-recorded in both Tamil and Telugu languages prior to the release of the movie in both languages respectively. The Tamil lyrics have been penned by Muthamil and the Telugu lyrics by Bhaskarabhatla.

Music reception

Pinkvilla reviewing the track "Kahani" stated that "The 2-minute song takes you inside the world of Laal Singh Chaddha which is innocent, heartwarming, and all about creating beautiful memories." The Indian Express stated that "The mood and flavours of Laal Singh Chaddha are beautifully packed in its latest song "Kahani". But more than the visuals, it is Sonu Nigam’s soulful, playful voice that makes the track an earworm. Hindustan Times reviewing the track "Tur Kalleyan" stated that "The song captures the beauty of rising above everything else and walking alone."

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Marketing

The trailer for the film was launched at the finale of 2022 Indian Premier League on 29 May 2022.

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Release

Theatrical

Laal Singh Chaddha released on 11 August 2022 alongside dubbed versions in Tamil and Telugu languages. Earlier, it was announced to release on 25 December 2020, coinciding with Christmas. However, due to production halt owing to COVID-19 pandemic in India, the release was delayed by a year to 24 December 2021, aiming for the Christmas weekend. It was later rescheduled to release on 11 February and then 14 April 2022, however, it was postponed. The Motion Picture Association gave the film a PG-13 rating for "some violent content, thematic elements and suggestive material."

Distribution

The film was distributed in India by Viacom18 Studios, while the international distribution of the film, through Paramount Pictures. The Telugu rights for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana region of the film were acquired by Geetha Arts. The Tamil Nadu theatrical rights are acquired by Red Giant Movies.

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Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 65% of 31 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's consensus reads, "It's indebted to its source material to the point of creative poverty, but Laal Singh Chaddha is also such an amiable retelling that it's difficult to dislike"

India

Laal Singh Chaddha received mixed reviews from critics. Devesh Sharma of Filmfare rated the film 4 out of 5 stars and wrote "Atul and Advait have invested more in the story than history. As a result, this has a better emotional core than the original". Sonil Dedhia of News 18 rated the film 4 out of 5 stars and wrote "Aamir Khan's Laal Singh Chaddha is a movie that deftly grapples with the pessimism of the world, but handled in a mature way". Renuka Vyavahare of The Times Of India rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "LSC holds onto the good old values that make it worthy of a family outing. You will particularly remember a crackling Shah Rukh Khan cameo". Stutee Ghosh of The Quint rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Laal Singh Chaddha is made up of many memorable, heartwarming moments. It says a lot that will leave us smiling or moist eyed". Sukanya Verma of Rediff rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Laal Singh Chaddha does not let its source down. And replacing a box of chocolates with a ready-to-eat gol gappe kit is geeeenius, like Laal's Ustad would say". Sanchita Jhunjhunwala of Zoom rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "The movie leaves you teary eyed, even though it doesn't make you cry, and that, we feel, makes it a job well done by the entire team!". Avinash Lohana of Pinkvilla rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "Aamir Khan and his team manage to live up to the original and present an entertaining watch". Nairita Mukherjee of India Today rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "For the most part, director Advait Chandan's Laal Singh Chaddha remains faithful to the original material".

Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "Except for a few crucial changes, the film is faithful to the beats of its source material". Rohit Bhatnagar of The Free Press Journal rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "The film is a bit too lengthy but Shah Rukh Khan’s cameo will make it up for you". Sushri Sahu of Mashable rated he film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "Laal Singh Chaddha deserves a watch for its special cameo alone". Mugdha Kapoor of DNA India rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "Laal Singh Chaddha has made a valiant effort to deliver a message of forgiveness, optimism and compassion". Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "A de-aged Aamir Khan throws all that he has into the role and comes up with a simpleton who is wondrously loveable". Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost rated the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Laal Singh Chaddha must stand on its own sans comparisons since it is being viewed in 2022 by a whole generation of viewers to whom Forrest Gump is not a cultural reference that evokes nostalgia". Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express rated the film 2 out of 5 stars and wrote "It’s not just the pace of the film which is the trouble. It is also, centrally and crucially, Sardar Laal Singh Chaddha himself, as played by Aamir Khan". A critic for Bollywood Hungama rated the film 2 out of 5 stars and wrote "Despite fine performances and lovely moments the excessive length and slow pacing goes against Laal Singh Chaddha"

International

Laal Singh Chaddha received mixed to positive reviews from international critics calling it a promising affair, while Khan failed to impress. Proma Khosla of Indie Wire rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Kulkarni and Chandan deserve a whole box of gol gappe". Mike McCahill of The Guardian rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "Director Advait Chandan is too literal in his adaptation of the 90s classic but finds a warmth and political honesty the original lacks". Witney Seibold of Slash Film rated the film 7 out of 10 stars and wrote "Despite how corny it is, Laal Singh Chaddha it unexpectedly disarming". Carlos Aguilar of The Wrap stated "The setting and language have changed, but the story still thinks it's being uplifting about the neuroatypical even as it punches down". Siddhant Adlakha of Joy Sauce stated "Laal Singh Chaddha is an effective adaptation that not only localizes the specifics of Forrest Gump, but translates its relationship with its setting, swapping the self-professed peace and prosperity of '90s America for the more volatile and nationalistic climate of modern India, where the country's image of itself remains in constant flux". Nicolas Rapold of The New York Times commented that "The movie’s charms are limited by what comes to feel like a coddling conceit.".

Box office

Laal Singh Chaddha earned ₹11.70 crores at the domestic box office on its opening day. On the second day, the film collected ₹7.26 crore. On the third day, the film collected ₹9 crore. On the fourth day, the film collected ₹10 crore, taking a total domestic weekend collection to ₹37.96 crore.

As of 16 August 2022^[update], the film grossed ₹57.06 crore (US$7.1 million) in India and ₹32.01 crore (US$4.0 million) overseas, for a worldwide gross collection of ₹89.07 crore (US$11 million).