Laal Singh Chaddha: How Aamir Khan adapted Forrest Gump to Bollywood

Bollywood star Aamir Khan waited a decade to secure the rights to the Oscar-winning 1994 film Forrest Gump. a formal adaptation of the Tom Hanks classic, which hits theaters on Thursday.

Khan teamed up with rookie screenwriter Atul Kulkarni and director Advait Chandan to release the film theatrically. He wanted to make it a "respectful homage to the original and take it in an exciting new direction," according to the film's production notes.

When first scenario While reading, the makers set up chairs in a room trying to recreate the atmosphere of a train.

"We put people in their place and started reading. Khan had internalized Laal so much that he immediately came out so organically. He was right away Laal," Chandane said. "Khan lived with this character for about 10 years."

India has adapted several Hollywood, Korean and European films. But Laal Singh Chaddha is special: filmmaker Karan Johar said on his popular show that the remake of "such an iconic Hollywood movie has never happened before" in Bollywood.

Laal Singh Chaddha is like a "revival of a really loved classic", says Chandan. Although Forrest Gump is a quintessentially American film, he says it's a "universal story, which we could bring an Indian flavor to."