It was his film debut and he got to play Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol’s onscreen son in the Karan Johar-directorial, My Name Is Khan This was a decade ago and he was just 12. And even though he took a sabbatical to complete his education soon after the film released, he is now working hard to fulfil his acting dreams.
“Can’t believe that a decade has gone by… it feels unreal. The film was a life-changing experience for me,” says an excited Arjan Singh Aujla, who is immediately reminded of the times when he shot for the film in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Goregaon, Mumbai.
The actor goes on to share how everyone, including (now actors) Varun Dhawan and Sidharth Malhotra, who were assistant directors on the film, made sure hrje was comfortable. “Sidharth would help me with my dialogues; we’d do the dry run of the entire scene. He would speak SRK’s or Kajol’s lines and I’d say mine. I recently did an ad with Varun. When I introduced myself, he couldn’t believe I’ve grown up so much,” he says.
Reminiscing how Shah Rukh, Kajol and Karan were always caring towards him, Arjan adds, “We were shooting in Goregaon and Shah Rukh walked up to me and asked my name. He was like, ‘Don’t be nervous, we’ll do it. Do you want me to get you some fruits and water? You want to practice once’. Kajol would also ask about my school, studies… Karan sir would make sure I was taken care of and praised every time I gave a nice shot.”
{{/usCountry}}Reminiscing how Shah Rukh, Kajol and Karan were always caring towards him, Arjan adds, “We were shooting in Goregaon and Shah Rukh walked up to me and asked my name. He was like, ‘Don’t be nervous, we’ll do it. Do you want me to get you some fruits and water? You want to practice once’. Kajol would also ask about my school, studies… Karan sir would make sure I was taken care of and praised every time I gave a nice shot.”
{{/usCountry}}Interestingly, Arjan was auditioned to portray young SRK, but later he got shortlisted from over 1,000 children to play Sameer Rathore, his onscreen son. Even for this character, he was auditioned five times. “I had done few ads by then, and so I was confident. But I never had such an audition experience,” he shares.
Though the success of My Name Is Khan and the appreciation his performance garnered translated into more work for Arjan, he returned to the industry only after completing his Bachelors in Management Studies.
He has starred in a web show and his latest music video is out. He’s now prepping for a short film, where he plays the role of a boxer. “Before getting back, I did acting workshops and also worked on my physique. I’ve started all over again, hopefully this time, too, the journey will be fascinating,” he concludes.
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