Sanju is one of the most anticipated movies to watch out in Bollywood this year. The biopic on the controversial actor Sanjay Dutt is directed by his good friend Rajkumar Hirani. Ranbir Kapoor is playing Dutt in the movie, while it also stars Anushka Sharma, Sonam Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, Manisha Koirala, Jim Sarbh and Vicky Kaushal. The trailer of the movie has been received with much applause by the fans, and we are waiting for further promotional material from the movie.

Now, before Hirani made Sanju, Hirani had made two of the biggest hits in Hindi Cinema, 3 Idiots and PK, with Aamir Khan. So changing his lead actor from Aamir to Ranbir has surprised many, though Ranbir matches the physical aspects of Sanjay Dutt better than Aamir anyway. However, not many know that Aamir Khan was offered a role in the movie and that he rejected it.

Aamir Khan was offered the role of Ranbir's father, that is, he was to portray the late actor-politician Sunil Dutt (a role that went to Paresh Rawal). But it was the aspect of playing father to Ranbir Kapoor that made Aamir reject the role. In an interview to Outlook, Rajkumar Hirani revealed that Aamir was interested to be a part of the project, but his character in Dangal played spoilsport.

Hirani revealed, “Aamir is a friend. Any script I write, I bounce it to him. When I narrated ‘Sanju’ to him, he loved it and said, ‘Main bhi kuch karta hoon (I should also do something in it).’ Then I said, do this (Sunil Dutt’s role). But he was already doing the role of an elderly man in ‘Dangal’ (2016) around the same time." The reason can be believed since Aamir is known to take on roles that aren't exactly lengthy like Dhobi Ghat and Secret Superstar but are impactful. Also Dangal was released around the same time that Sanju went on floors.

Sanju is scheduled to release on June 29 and chronicles the life of Sanjay Dutt from his teenage years to the time he came out of Yerwada jail serving his time for possessing illegal arms.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 22, 2018 07:41 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).