Aamir Khan, Bollywood's Mr Dependable, is an image of humility and warmth. Ruled by the heart than the head, he has lived his life as an actor, never falling into the trap of stardom.
His success comes from the passion and humility that distinguish him as one of the greatest performers of our time, who has not allowed himself to become entrapped in the web of self-aggrandisement and stardom. He endears the cinegoer worldwide in the highest-grossing Bollywood films creating a benchmark mance. This Khan never needed a scimitar like the historical Genghis Khan to conquer. Earnest eyes deliver a view, with undertones of joy in what he's doing that totally conquers.
“I decided to go with my heart and not my head, Nisha. What has driven me has never been money. Ours is a line of Saraswati (goddess of learning), not Lakshmi (goddess of wealth)," twinkle in eye, avers Aamir, as failure to him is in not being able to achieve his own vision.
Where others might have jumped at the Hollywood carrot, Aamir stayed grounded and clear about his objectives. “I believe in Indian cinema and am proud to be a part of it. Our cinema is part of Indian society. It has a tradition, our way of doing things. Indian audiences delight in songs and dance."
Not enamoured by the attraction the West seems to hold for most, he says about Hollywood, “Post-nominations and pre-Oscars, a number of Hollywood agencies did contact me and wanted to represent me, but I didn't see how I would be of any use to them because I don't intend to shift (to Hollywood). I'm really happy where I am. I have an emotional connection with my audience that is decades long. If some script excites me and the director is someone I trust completely, it would be at the most a one-off. Over these past years, there have been a number of scripts that have been sent to me. Nothing really excited me, so I turned them all down."
He reminisces about his early years. “Last couple of years at school I was confused as to what I wanted to do, but after I acted in Aditya's (Bhattacharya) film, I became sure of what I wanted to do in life. I quit studies after high school. My family was against my joining films as they had been through the unpredictability of the film world and did not want their child to go through film insecurities. Then they saw 'Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak' which changed all that. In fact, it changed the face of Indian cinema, and was a turning point for me and brought a new sensibility to Indian cinema. I cannot pretend there was anything profound about the way I did what I did, Nisha. Whatever I felt strongly about, I took on. This is how I am. There are decisions I made in my career, alternatives I choose with my heart because whenever I went with my head, I was not happy nor successful."
I can see that it is an innate passion and humility that guides his decisions. Very much like his character Rancho from '3 Idiots' who advises his friend to give up engineering and pursue wildlife photography, his true passion, because only when you are passionate about what you do you don't have to run after success, but can let success come after you! “It is important for me to be the most loved and respected actor - and my only way to work toward that is to do only good work. I want to be remembered for my work. If an artist has a brilliant vision and translates onto a brilliant vision and translates onto the canvas a work that is less than what he visualised in his imagination, the passionate artist will restart, but there is another who would go on to sell anyway, unperturbed in the lack - after all some one will buy it."
“Most of us don't have courage, so individually insecure are we that we cushion ourselves with so many projects, but not Aamir. He is risk-taking, with a huge amount of confidence," says the star of the millennium of Indian cinema Amitabh Bachchan.
The author is a luxury consultant and lifestyle columnist. You can mail her at nishajamvwal@gmail.com
