Genelia D’Souza is making her much-anticipated return to the big screen in Aamir Khan’s upcoming film, Sitaare Zameen Par, where she plays his on-screen wife. The news of her casting generated significant buzz. She has also spoken out against the perceived bias within Bollywood towards married actresses. Genelia revealed that she had to audition three times for her role in the film.
In an interview, Genelia mentioned that while many congratulated her on securing the role with Aamir Khan, few acknowledged that she had earned it through merit. She recounted, “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 criticized the industry’s tendency to sideline 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 recently addressed the age gap between himself and Genelia in the film. He commented, “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, the Hindi adaptation of the Spanish hit Campeones, is also a spiritual sequel to Taare Zameen Par. Both Genelia and Aamir play characters in their early 40s. The film is scheduled to be released in theaters on June 20.