MUMBAI: Bollywood megastar Aamir Khan announced on Thursday that he is to star in an official Hindi-language remake of hit American movie “Forrest Gump.”
Khan will play the role of Laal Singh Chaddha, based on Tom Hanks’s character in the 1994 multiple-award-winning US classic.
“I have always loved ‘Forrest Gump’ as a script. It is a life-affirming story. It is a feel-good film. It is a film for the whole family,” Khan told reporters in Mumbai on his 54th birthday.
“Forrest Gump” won six Oscars, including best picture, best director and best actor for Hanks.
The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis and was based on Winston Groom’s 1986 novel of the same name.
It centers on the life of a dim-witted but kind man whose life mirrors key events in America in the 20th century.
Khan, who last appeared in box office flop “Thugs of Hindostan,” said he would lose 20 kilograms (45 pounds) for the role.
“I have to be lean and slim,” he explained, adding that shooting would start in October.
Hollywood blockbusters have long inspired the Mumbai-based Hindi film industry.
Action-thriller “Kaante” (2002) was influenced by Quentin Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs” while “Sarkar” (2005) was likened to “The Godfather” and “Chachi 420” was similar to “Mrs Doubtfire,” although they weren’t official remakes.
Khan’s adaptation of “Forrest Gump” is expected to hit screens next year. Khan said the rights to the movie were bought from Paramount.
An official remake of 2014 Hollywood film “The Fault in Our Stars” is also in the works.
Aamir Khan to star in Bollywood ‘Forrest Gump’ remake
Aamir Khan to star in Bollywood ‘Forrest Gump’ remake
- Aamir Khan will play the role of Laal Singh Chaddha, based on Tom Hanks’s character in the 1994 multiple-award-winning US classic
- Aamir Khan’s adaptation of ‘Forrest Gump’ is expected to hit screens next year
Sotheby’s to bring coveted Rembrandt lion drawing to Diriyah
DUBAI: Later this month, Sotheby’s will bring to Saudi Arabia what it describes as the most important Rembrandt drawing to appear at auction in 50 years. Estimated at $15–20 million, “Young Lion Resting” comes to market from The Leiden Collection, one of the world’s most important private collections of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish art.
The drawing will be on public view at Diriyah’s Bujairi Terrace from Jan. 24 to 25, alongside the full contents of “Origins II” — Sotheby’s forthcoming second auction in Saudi Arabia — ahead of its offering at Sotheby’s New York on Feb. 4, 2026. The entire proceeds from the sale will benefit Panthera, the world’s leading organization dedicated to the conservation of wild cats. The work is being sold by The Leiden Collection in partnership with its co-owner, philanthropist Jon Ayers, the chairman of the board of Panthera.
Established in 2006, Panthera was founded by the late wildlife biologist Dr. Alan Rabinowitz and Dr. Thomas S. Kaplan. The organization is actively engaged in the Middle East, where it is spearheading the reintroduction of the critically endangered Arabian leopard to AlUla, in partnership with the Royal Commission for AlUla.
“Young Lion Resting” is one of only six known Rembrandt drawings of lions and the only example remaining in private hands. Executed when Rembrandt was in his early to mid-thirties, the work captures the animal’s power and restless energy with striking immediacy, suggesting it was drawn from life. Long before Rembrandt sketched a lion in 17th-century Europe, lions roamed northwest Arabia, their presence still echoed in AlUla’s ancient rock carvings and the Lion Tombs of Dadan.
For Dr. Kaplan, the drawing holds personal significance as his first Rembrandt acquisition. From 2017 to 2024, he served as chairman of the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage, of which Saudi Arabia is a founding member.
The Diriyah exhibition will also present, for the first time, the full range of works offered in “Origins II,” a 64-lot sale of modern and contemporary art, culminating in an open-air auction on Jan. 31 at 7.30 pm.
