Dhoom 3 was not written with Aamir Khan in mind: Vijay Krishna Acharya

Vijay Krishna Acharya talks about Dhoom 3, and rubbishes the claims of the movie being Aamir centric, causing the other stars of the franchise to be neglected.

The latest Aamir Khan-starrer, and the third film of the Dhoom franchise, has returned magical figures at the box office.

Writer-director Vijay Krishna Acharya (he also wrote the first two instalments, but has only directed this one), talks about working without budget constraints, and denies that other actors’ roles were cut down to give Aamir more screen time.

People are saying that Dhoom:3 is all about Aamir Khan.

Because Aamir’s character is so important, for Aamir’s fans, it’s an Aamir Khan film. I’d like to think of it as a Vijay Krishna Acharya film. Aamir’s performance was outstanding, but I think every actor excelled in what they did.

So, it wasn’t written with him in mind?

With Dhoom (the franchise), or any other film, we finish the script and then take it to an actor. I find it easier to tell someone what’s in my head once it’s on paper, rather than write with someone in mind.

Katrina’s role seems negligible.

I love all the characters I write. If we were to think of it in conventional Hindi film terms, then she is the heroine, and she is there for three-fourths of the film… But, for me, as a writer, the process was fairly organic.

Uday Chopra and Abhishek Bachchan didn’t get a song this time.

I did want to do a song for Jai (Abhishek) and Ali (Uday). We’d planned to use it in promotion. But we were running a tight deadline, and Uday and Abhishek also got busy with their respective commitments and it didn’t happen.

As a director, is it easier when you know you have a big budget to work with?

I can only go with my gut and say what I would like to do, and then my producer comes in and makes it happen. I don’t know whether we went over budget. We just knew this film was going to be expensive. You can’t compromise to keep the film in budget.