Aamir Khan Shocked By Laapataa Ladies Actor Sparsh Shrivastav

After its theatrical release earlier this year, Netflix premiered Kiran Rao’s critically acclaimed Laapataa Ladies on April 26. This has once again sparked conversation about the film’s heart-warming storyline and strong performances. Among those showering praise upon the film is its producer Aamir Khan, who — in a recent conversation with Netflix India — pointed out Sparsh Shrivastav’s portrayal of the gentle Deepak: “The way he has performed it, your heart goes out to him.”

Laapataa Ladies follows the story of two new brides who accidentally swap places but end up finding themselves along the way. Besides Shrivastav, the film also stars Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta, Chhaya Kadam and Ravi Kishan. Khan, who is also director Rao’s former husband, praised all the actors in the cast but it was Shrivastav’s performance that really surprised him: “I could see the others’ performance on paper itself. But Sparsh’s character wasn’t written so clearly on paper. He had nothing to do; he was just panicking and running around. But when I saw him enact it, I was bowled over.” Khan was so moved that he called up the young actor and even spoke to his mother: “He’s really talented!” 

This is not the first time Khan has shown his appreciation for Shrivastav. Shortly after the release of the latter’s OTT series Jamtara: Sabka Number Aayega (2020), the veteran actor reached out to Shrivastav by sending him a text message. In an amusing twist, Shrivastav initially dismissed it as a scam (ironic, considering the theme of his show Jamtara). “Then I asked Sir to send me a voice note to make it believable. Then he said he would video call me in a while. When he called, I was covering the camera with my hand. I was still under the impression that someone was fooling me. But then I saw, he was sitting right under a good light, his skin was glowing, he was wearing a cream shirt, and I got excited,” said Shrivastav with a laugh.