Why Prahlad Kakar picked Aamir Khan over Shah Rukh Khan for almost thrice the price for an ad?

Before becoming the megastar of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan once competed with Aamir Khan for an ad, which also featured Aishwarya Rai and Mahima Chaudhary, but the ad maker, Prahlad Kakar, had a clear vision.

“Aamir was charging some Rs 17 lakhs and Shah Rukh was only charging Rs 6 Lakh at that time. And why Shah Rukh was charging Rs 6 Lakh was also because he was short of Rs 6 Lakh for buying his house (Mannat). So he said, I am short of Rs 6 Lakh, you give me and I will do the ad. So I said he is not right for the film. I wanted the actor. I wanted someone who had the image of an actor. Money was not my concern. Then they went round the mulberry bush and then after about six months of negotiating Aamir said yes. He didn’t say yes to them, they said yes to him. He didn’t budge," said Kakar to Vickey Lalwani.

Explaining what set Aamir and SRK apart, he asked, “What was differentiating the two at that time because they were both very young, very good looking, very charming?"

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“The image that Aamir had with Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak was an innocent boy next door. Just a nice, clean boy. And that’s what I needed for the ad film. And Shah Rukh was there but he didn’t have such a clean image. Because his first film was Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman. Or something like that. And the character that he played was not as squeaky clean as the character that Aamir played," he added.

On the professional front, SRK is currently busy with the shooting of King, which features Suhana Khan, Deepika Padukone, Jaideep Ahlawat, Raghav Juyal, Rani Mukerji and Arshad Warsi among others. It is directed by Siddharth Anand of Pathaan and Fighter fame.