When Aamir Khan held his breath

Just before the release of Aamir Khan’s Ghajini, his mannequin-like sculptures — in an almost life-like size — were spotted at many multiplexes.  Forty such statues had been made by Kedar Ghate and Nitin Gorde along with 15 of their team members as part of the gameplan for the movie’s release.

After Hrs learnt that to get the exact impression, perfectionist Aamir Khan held his breath. Nitin says, “We decided to make an exact mould of Aamir’s face. To accomplish that we would have required him to hold his breath for 15 to 20 minutes.”
An impossible physical feat and, so as Nitin adds, “We gave him a straw and asked him to breathe through his mouth for the required duration.  Initially sceptical, Aamir  finally agreed.

Though all precautions were taken, he did face some problems while we were finishing our job. But he was very cooperative and we completed our task in the span of about 15 minutes.” The sculpture is slightly taller than Aamir. “It had to stand out, so we made it a little taller,” confesses Nitin.

In the six-month-long project, Aamir’s team checked every detail of these sculptures.

“Aamir made a few corrections to the sculptures. Initially, he wanted us to make them in a sitting posture, but since a standing sculpture would stand out in the crowd, we zeroed in on that one. After finalising every single design and detail, we finally made 40 sculptures in 25 days. I have to admit that it is difficult to please Aamir but if you are a professional it is a smooth ride.”