Sai Pallavi and Junaid Khan got candid about their film Ek Din, offering a rare peek into its making — from early scripting days to self-doubt, language struggles and the realities of stardom. ‘We had nobody on the first recce’Recalling how the film began, Junaid shared in a promotional video, “I remember when like we were scripting this is 2023 January. Yeah. And we just finished scripting and Sunil and I were going to go to Japan for a 10-day.”Sai Pallavi added, “Yeah. Yeah. I think I remember first recce we had hired nobody like there was just Mansour, papa’s Nihas Pandan, Sunil and me… there was nobody else.”Junaid continued, “Just before we were supposed to go for two weeks, we were discussing casting and he was like Sai Pallavi… this is her film, she’s not going to do this, she’s doing so many big films… in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi.”Sai Pallavi on choosing the filmExplaining why she said yes, Sai Pallavi said, “It’s not about small or the scale of a film that drives me. I think at that point of time in life I’d done a lot of… films which were quite heavy and I wanted to do something that was light and didn’t have me carry a lot of trauma.”She added, “So when the script came along, I thought this is going to be in the zone of Before Sunrise… and I love Aamir sir… he diversified his whole creative sector… so I thought this is going to be a different experience.”‘I thought I was miscast’Despite her excitement, Sai Pallavi admitted she was unsure of herself. “I was very scared… I think I’m a little extra serious… and I thought I was a miscast.”Junaid immediately disagreed, saying, “You are absolutely wrong… when I watched the movie… I was just quiet for a while… and you were so good.”Sai Pallavi recalled, “I said, ‘I don’t think I was meant to do this. I think I’m a miscast.’ And he’s like, ‘What are you saying? You are so wrong.’ I don’t know… I feel someone else was meant to do this.”Junaid stood firm: “Not a chance… I saw the film… only dialogue track… no background score… and you were just spectacular.”On performance and language pressurePraising her further, Junaid said, “I don’t think I’ve seen somebody play drunk so well at all and you don’t drink.”Sai Pallavi admitted, “I was dreading… I don’t know how to play drunk… sometimes you overdo it or don’t hit the mark.”She also opened up about speaking Hindi on screen for the first time. “They kept saying you speak Hindi the way you do… I said I would like to dub. They said, ‘Dub? We’re doing live sound.’ That shook my world.”“The first time I speak Hindi in a movie and you’re doing live sound… it’s a lot of pressure… but they said it sounded adorable, so I went with it,” she added.Junaid on learning filmmaking and theatreTalking about his journey, Junaid shared, “My first job on a film set was as an AD… I was 19… it was one of the last films shot on 35mm… so I learned the brick and mortar process of filmmaking.”He added, “I really enjoy stage… I’ve spent a lot of time there.”Shooting in Japan and on-set momentsThe duo also spoke about filming in Japan. Sai Pallavi said, “I can’t risk my knees… I’m a dancer… but this time it was for the movie… I really liked the snow.”Junaid recalled, “We had like 20 people on skis… none of them knew how to ski… I would take the lift up and ski down.”They also shared a candid moment from a scene. Junaid said, “You actually fell asleep… it was so natural… but we couldn’t use it because it looked like a mistake.”Sai Pallavi laughed, “Between takes I would just sleep and then wake up for the shot.”‘You can’t outgrow Aamir Khan’s shadow’Opening up about identity, Junaid addressed being Aamir Khan’s son. “The shadow of being Aamir Khan’s son — you’re never going to outgrow.”“It’s neither positive nor negative… he’s been a movie star for 35 years. I’m not competing with that anytime soon. It will take me a lifetime,” he said.“For the foreseeable future, no matter how well I do, I will be Aamir Khan only,” Junaid added.‘I think I was meant to do this film’Despite her earlier doubts, Sai Pallavi ended on a confident note. “I think I had a lot of fun making this film… I think I was meant to do this film… I think I’m exactly where I should be.”
