Back in 1996, Aamir Khan tried to give his brother Faissal a real shot at stardom with Dharmesh Darshan directing Mela. That project turned into a bit of a black mark for everyone involved—it dragged on for four years, and Faissal himself has called it a nightmare.
Before that, Faissal’s debut in Madhosh (1994) barely made a ripple at the box office. Looking back, Aamir, producer Suneel Darshan, and Twinkle Khanna have all spoken openly about just how badly Mela went off the rails.
Aamir Khan’s brother recalls his dynamics with the superstar
In a recent interview, Faissal shed more light on what happened and also opened up about his dynamic with Aamir.
Because of his struggles—both personal and professional—Faissal’s acting career never really got going. These days, he gets by on a monthly allowance from Aamir, living in one of their family’s apartments in Mumbai’s Pali Hill.
Talking to Pinkvilla, Faissal pointed out that the endless delays were mostly thanks to clashes between Aamir and director Darshan. “After Madhosh, I knew I had to start from scratch. I wasn’t exactly a natural, so I worked on my acting, singing, dancing, and even fighting. Only after all that did I feel ready for Mela,” he said.
How Faissal Khan was put up against Aamir Khan
He also admitted there was a lot of pressure, since the cast was packed with veterans—Aamir Khan, Johnny Lever, Asrani, Archana Puran Singh.
Darshan made it clear: “Faissal, I’m putting you up against Aamir. If you stand out, you’ve proved yourself.” This was right after Raja Hindustani, so Aamir was at the peak of his popularity. The message was simple: if Faissal could hold his own, he’d earn some respect.
Faissal went on to explain how the project came together. “Mela took four years. Aamir wanted to launch me because it was the trend—brothers starring together, like Sunny and Bobby Deol in Dillagi or Salman and Arbaaz in Hello Brother. Nobody wanted to cast me solo, so Aamir thought, let’s do this together.”
He’d promised producer Ratan Jain not to sign any other film until Mela was done, but the constant arguments between Aamir and Darshan dragged things out. At one point, Aamir even threatened to quit. Somehow, they always patched things up and carried on, until the film finally stumbled into theatres in 2000.
Director Dharmesh Darshan, for his part, later blamed Aamir for meddling too much. He told Bollywood Hungama, “I was tough during Raja Hindustani, but in Mela, I let things slide. The film lost its focus, and the casting didn’t help.
Besides Aamir, everyone else was struggling. Still, Faissal showed improvement from Madhosh. In some scenes, he even outshone Aamir.”
Aamir himself has owned up to regretting Mela, and after its box office failure, he and Darshan never worked together again.
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