Gippy Grewal says Punjabis don’t like it when actors use fake beards to appear Punjabi, praises Aamir Khan

Actor-singer Gippy Grewal has spoken about biopics and why they spell more hard work for an actor than any other role. In a new interview, Gippy spoke about how actors take shortcuts to get into a real person’s characters easily but inauthentically and why he appreciates what Aamir Khan did in Laal Singh Chaddha. (Also read: Gippy Grewal’s son was asked to cut hair for Laal Singh Chaddha role, singer refused)

Aamir grew a real beard and gained weight to fit the role of a sweet and simple Sardar ji Laal Singh Chaddha. Even Punjabis like Gippy have noticed his commitment to the role and praised him for it.

In an interview to Bollywood Hungama, Gippy detailed his process of gaining weight for the biopic of Subedar Joginder Singh in 2018. He said he had to gain close to 10-15 kilos to get the look right. “I always feel that if you want to make someone’s biopic, you should do it properly. You should not put on a fake beard or moustache, as many people do it these days. This is a point to be noted. Please don’t do this. As a Punjabi, when we see a ‘Punjabi’ person with fake beard and everything, we don’t like it,” he said.

About Aamir, he said, “Now Laal Singh Chaddha is coming and Aamir paaji looks totally like a Sardaar. You should work towards it.”

In another interview, Gippy said his son Shinda was also considered to play the young Laal in the film. However, things did not materialise. In an interview with News18, Gippy said, “Shinda played a small part in one of my films Ardaas (2016). The makers of Laal Singh Chaddha saw that and they approached me as they wanted him to play the young version of Aamir Khan in the film. Mukesh (Chhabra, casting director) also got in touch with me and told me to send across a few reference videos of Shinda saying ‘hello’ in Punjabi, which would also be a look test for him. I wasn’t even aware of the story of the film at that point in time.”

He added, “There was an angle in the film where he had to get his hair cut. But we weren’t okay with it. In fact, it was not possible for us. That’s why he couldn’t do the film.”

Laal Singh Chaddha released in theatres on Friday, August 11. The film opened to bad first two days of box office haul. It has so far collected ₹18 crore. It is a remake of Hollywood hit Forrest Gump and also stars Kareena Kapoor.