Aamir Khan says he called Naga Chaitanya’s parents to praise his upbringing. See BTS video from Laal Singh Chaddha

The makers of Laal Singh Chaddha have dropped a new video ahead of the film’s release, which introduced Naga Chaitanya’s character in the comedy-drama. Chaitanya, who marks his Bollywood debut with the film, will play Bala– a version of Bubba from the Tom Hanks-starrer Forrest Gump. The behind-the-scenes video showed the film’s co-producer and lead actor Aamir Khan and director Advait Chandan among others praising Chaitanya for his on-screen as well as off-screen presence. Also Read| Chiranjeevi’s praise for Laal Singh Chaddha moves Aamir Khan to tears

In the video, Naga Chaitanya explained how they landed upon the name Bala aka Balaraju Bodi for his character. The name also has a connection with Chaitanya’s grandfather Akkineni Nageshwara Rao, who played a character named Balaraju in his 1948 film of the same name. Chaitanya said, “Somehow it has a connection with my granddad. So I guess it’s just very magical.” The video also showed how the makers took Akkineni Nageshwara Rao’s pictures for reference while deciding on a look for Chaitanya’s character.

The video showed Naga Chaitanya trying on different methods during the look test as Aamir Khan gave his insights. It also gave glimpses of Aamir and Chaitanya filming their scenes together. Aamir also praised Chaitanya and his upbringing as he spoke about the actor in the video.

Aamir said, “I’m really grateful to Chay for doing this film. As a producer, I got so much comfort working with him. He’s a team player who is always standing by his team, and as an actor, he is so on the ball. He’s so focused and engrossed in his shot… I called his father, Nagarjuna, and mother, Lakshmi, and told them ‘you two have raised Chay so well. You should be really proud as parents. He is such a wonderful human being.'”

Director Advait Chandan noted that while many Hindi-speaking actors don’t come to the sets with their lines memorised, Chaitanya had all of his lines on his lips despite being a non-Hindi speaking actor. He revealed that he had to even ask Chaitanya to not speak his Hindi so well, as his character is also not supposed to be fluent in the language.

Chaitanya shared a hug with Aamir, Advait, and Kiran Rao as he wrapped up the filming of his part in Laal Singh Chaddha. Toward the end of the video, he told someone, “I am playing my grandfather,” as he discussed some scene that is not part of the original Forrest Gump film.

Laal Singh Chaddha, which also stars Kareena Kapoor and Mona Singh, is scheduled to release in theatres on August 11.