Aamir Khan: Bollywood superstar on why he secretly quit films

Bollywood actor Aamir Khan is known for some of India’s most popular videos, including Lagaan and 3 Stupid.

Because of how much of an appeal he has, fans can hardly mob him in the streets.

What’s less well known is that he quietly stopped making movies during the Covid epidemic to spend more time with his loved ones.

” I told my family I’m done with standing and pictures”, he tells BBC News.

” I]didn’t ] want to produce or direct or act. I just wanted to be with the home”.

A big star like Ali Khan’s decision to leave the film business would have shocked India, a country that is devoted to movies, in your opinion.

But, he explains, his judgement went unnoticed at the time because so few films were being made due to the crisis.

” No-one knew about it”, he says.

Viewers can breathe a sigh of relief, nevertheless.

Khan didn’t start for longer. And now he’s up and is promoting Laapataa Ladies- or Missing Women- a film he’s produced. It is India’s recognized choice for the Oscars in the best global have drama class.

Khan claims that his babies persuaded him to return to work.

” They were like,’ But we didn’t spend 24 hours with you. But get real and obtain a life.’ So they gently nudged me up into the videos”, he says.

At 59, Khan has worked as an actor, producer and supplier for three years.

He’s known as one of the three” Dynasties of Bollywood”- the others being own megastars Shah Rukh and Salman.

Known for tackling interpersonal issues, Aamir’s pictures are widely acclaimed as well as breaking box office records.

He is also no man to the Oscars. A baseball movie about the 19th century and the British Empire, Langaan, was nominated for best international language picture in 2002.

Khan is currently attempting to create past with Laapataa Women. If it is successful, it will be the first Indian movie to receive the desired worldwide recognition. On Tuesday, he will find out if it made the selection.

Khan said he’s” never really sure how really” to get awards. ” Cinema is therefore subjective”, he says.

However, he acknowledges that an outcome may be significant for India.

” I think Indians are so movie mad, and we’ve been dying to get an Indian picture an Oscar, which hasn’t yet occurred. So the state may go ballistic. They’ll really go mad if we win”, he says.

” I would be really glad if we won the award just for the citizens of our country and for our state,” he said.

Laapataa Ladies, a film set in rural India, tells the tale of a young person who returns the bad wedding. However, his partner ends up lost, having to fight for herself.

It’s a sarcasm that examines how women are treated, with an emphasis on the delicate subject of domestic crime.

Khan describes the story as” a little Shakespearean”, with its emphasis on laughter and mistaken personalities.

But, he adds, it’s saying” a lot of important points about children’s concerns, their independence, their right to decide for themselves what they want to perform”.

It was these concerns that drew him to the picture in the first place, he explains.

Every so often, he says, you have the chance to really sensibilize people about particular issues that exist in society.

” Girls have encountered a lot of difficulties in their lives all over the world. There is a sweet spot for people in life. So I decided to write this story and it really does that in a good approach, which is why I wanted to produce it.

Khan was likewise “very eager” that his ex-wife, Kiran Rao, should clear the picture.

The couple, who married in 2005, announced their separation in 2021. But they have remained near, both professionally and personally.

” I think the reason I picked Kiran was because I knew she would be very open with it, and that’s what I wanted,” he says.

” We get along really well. We truly love each other, we value each other.

Our marriage may have somewhat changed, but that doesn’t mean that our feelings for one another have changed or something.

That’s not to suggest it’s all been ordinary sailing, however.

Khan acknowledges that there were disagreements on collection.

” We didn’t make a movie without an explanation. But we argue every stage and we have strong thoughts, “he says.

” But our tastes are quite comparable. We are never referring to important issues. We’re just trying to persuade the other person to use a different language to convey everything.

Bollywood produces hundreds of movies annually and has a sizable after worldwide.

The impact that the movies and actors have on their audiences ‘ imaginations cannot be overstated.

It has recently received awards at the Academy Awards, with RRR’s Naatu Naatu winning best original song and The Elephant Whisperers winning best documentary short video.

However, Khan attributes this to the competition, which has prevented it from winning the global film category.

India has produced truly outstanding movies over the years. Sometimes it’s just the right movie or the best movie no getting sent, he says.

” But then we have to know that the movies you’re competing against- you’re never competing against five or six films, you’re competing against about 80 or 90 films, which are the best in the world.”

As to whether a Bollywood movie was one moment shovel the best overall picture honor, Khan says it is” feasible”.

But Indian film-makers would first need to begin making videos for a global marketplace, he adds.

” I’ve never really looked at an international market, “he says”. It doesn’t come to mind that we have quite a large market of our own.

” That will only occur when Indian filmmakers begin making movies for audiences all over the world. I don’t believe we currently have the speed for it.

Along with Laapataa Women, Khan is currently working on a number of jobs, including his upcoming film Sitaare Zameen Par, which is scheduled to be released in 2025.

Looking further away, he’s hoping to make one picture a year, while his “dream task” is to take on Mahabharat- the old American epic.

But since unretiring from drama, he is determined to accomplish things differently. Once, this was influenced by his kids.

” My son said,’ You’re an extreme person ‘”, he says.

” He said,’ You’re like a pivot. You just did videos, films, films. And now you want to jump to the other side and would no pictures and be with family, community, home. There is a thick place that you can also consider.

Khan says his brother told him to” try and take some balance” into his life.

” And I thought he was right. But since then, that’s what I’ve been trying to perform- living a healthy life where I’m working really hard, in fact I’m doing much more job that I actually did, but I don’t function after 6o’clock any more”.

Khan claims that his daughter Ira, who works in mental health, has inspired him to start therapy in recent years.

” I think that’s something that’s really helped me. That’s really helped me understand myself better.

I’m actually finding that balance between my personal life and my work life. So I sense that I’ve now entered that space.

Watch Aamir Khan: The Interview on the BBC News Channel and BBC iPlayer.