Regional star Gippy Grewal gifts kada to Aamir during his recce in the state, actor to sport it in Laal Singh Chadha
Upala KBR (MID-DAY; September 24, 2019)

In the six months since he announced Laal Singh Chadha as his next, Aamir Khan has been undergoing a physical transformation for the part while director Advait Chandan is polishing the script. Ahead of the film — an adaptation of Tom Hanks' starrer Forrest Gump (1994) — rolling in November, the superstar and his team went to Punjab for a recce in the second week of September. Turns out, during the trip, Punjabi singer-filmmaker Gippy Grewal gifted Khan a kada (a bracelet worn by Sikhs) that has now found pride of place in the movie.

A source in the creative team reveals, "Gippy Grewal is an Aamir fan. Whenever the superstar goes to Punjab, Gippy makes sure to meet him. Recently, when the actor went to Punjab for a recce, Gippy joined the film's crew and helped them zero in on locations. Since he knew that Aamir plays a Sikh in the movie, he gifted the superstar the Guru da Kada as a token of good luck. Aamir was touched by the gesture, and promised the Punjabi singer that he will sport the kada in the film."

Interestingly, Khan — knowing that Grewal would have a strong command over Punjabi — sought his help in giving the finishing touches to the script. Another source says, "Since the film has a lot of Punjabi dialogues, Aamir requested Gippy to oversee the screenplay. However, as Gippy was busy, he put his Ardaas Karan co-writer, Rana Ranbir, on the job. Rana recently had a meeting with Aamir and Advait in Mumbai, and offered his suggestions on the script."