Actor Aamir Khan, often referred to as Mr Perfectionist in the Hindi film industry, was once a “nobody” and would get “nervous” during a kissing scene, according to his co-actor Kitu Gidwani. Gidwani, who worked with Aamir in the 1984 film Holi, described him as a “quiet and simple” person during those early days of his career.

In a recent interview with YouTuber Siddharth Kannan, Kitu recalled, “During those days, Aamir Khan was a nobody! He had just started his career in cinema. He is a man who loves cinema. He was creative. I had no clue who Aamir Khan was. Aamir was a very quiet person. They were all very humble and cool. He was very nervous when we had to kiss. He was as nervous as I was. He was a very simple actor back then. I can call him a friend.”

Reflecting on how she landed a role in Ketan Mehta’s Holi, a coming-of-age drama, Kitu shared, “We were all crazy people on the Film Institute campus. Ketan Ji (filmmaker Ketan Mehta) asked me, ‘Kitu, lately you have been mostly seen in Film Institute… so I said, ‘Yeah, I have been doing student films.’ Suddenly he was like, ‘Will you do Holi?’ I was like, ‘What is Holi?’ He said, ‘It’s a film I am doing.’ And that’s how it all happened.”

Speaking about her role in the film, she said, “I just played the sexy girl on campus. Back then, it was not about money or a stepping stone. We just did what we liked.”

Holi, which also starred Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, and Ashutosh Gowariker, among others, was a student project for the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune. The movie was primarily shot on the college campus.

Sharing her experience of working with Naseeruddin Shah, Kitu added, “Naseer is quite humble when he comes before his co-actors. I joined his theatre group, Motley Crew. For us, the work was more important. For Naseer, work is worship. He was our friend, but I saw him as my Guru. He never asked for it; I felt like respecting him.”

Kitu Gidwani, known for her TV show Swabhimaan, was last seen in the 2020 anthology film Ghost Stories.