Genelia D’Souza is set to make a comeback in Aamir Khan’s Sitaare Zameen Par, where she will play his on-screen wife. The news of her casting was widely celebrated by fans and industry professionals alike. However, she has also openly criticized the biases against married actresses in Bollywood. She disclosed that she auditioned three times for the role in Aamir Khan’s film.
In an interview, Genelia noted that while many congratulated her for working with Aamir, few recognized her achievement in securing the part through merit, “When people got to know I’m doing Sitaare Zameen Par, everybody said, ‘Oh my god! So lucky! You’re doing an Aamir Khan film!’. I said, of course, that’s Aamir sir’s bigness that he saw something in me. Of course, he made me audition. But you could also do that, right? You could also offer me a role.”
She further commented on the industry’s practice of overlooking married women, stating, “But you go as per the norms. Maybe you think I’m married, so I don’t need this character. I just feel filmmaking has changed, and so should our mentality. It’s very important that if you want a character of a certain age, you should cast someone of that age. When we cast an actor who’s much younger than the character I played, they can’t understand the little-little things of it. It’s important to cast right. And I hope opportunities go everyone’s way.”
Aamir Khan also discussed the age difference between himself and Genelia in the movie. He said, “We have the advantage of VFX now. Earlier, if I had to play an 18-year-old, I had to rely on prosthetics — like Anil Kapoor did in Eeshwar (1989), when he played an 80-year-old. Today, you can look 80 or 40 or 20 on screen with seamless visual effects. So, age is no longer a barrier for actors.”
Sitaare Zameen Par is the Hindi adaptation of the Spanish hit Campeones and is also considered a spiritual sequel to Taare Zameen Par. Both Genelia and Aamir are portraying characters in their early 40s, with the film scheduled for release on June 20.
