Aamir Khan in an exclusive chat with NDTV’s Sreenivasan Jain speaks about his blog, Shah Rukh Khan, Big B and his reasons for boycotting the awards.

NDTV: Aamir you are always juggling many things. The bald look of yours is for your new film Ghajini. You are also releasing you nephew’s film and you are also getting into all kind of trouble on your blog. What is with all of you and your blog, I mean it seems to be madness for controversy.

Aamir Khan: Well, I think you guys will be able to answer that better. For me it’s just a space, which I use to interact with my fans and share with them thoughts that I have.

NDTV: But what happened with this whole Shah Rukh thing?
Aamir: Well I think it was a post that I mailed which was in good humour or what I believe is good humour and certainly what Shah Rukh believes is good humour.

NDTV: But wasn’t that anecdote true that you were at a hill station with a dog called Shah Rukh.
Aamir: No that’s my house actually.

NDTV: Oh sorry!I beg you pardon your house in Panchgani.
Aamir: Yeah it is true, because Shah Rukh was actually shooting in that house. And apparently the day he was shooting the caretakers had a pup and because they are such big fans of Shah Rukh that they called the dog Shah Rukh. So it’s entirely true.

NDTV: But when you were feeding Shah Rukh and you were petting him and all of that.
Aamir: The dog, not the actor.

NDTV: The dog yes. You obviously were doing this good humourly but did you think that this could have been misinterpreted or where he would have got upset.
Aamir: No certainly not, I mean Shah Rukh and I share a great relationship. In fact I am glad the kind of relationship we have we can have the comfort and freedom of you know joking about each other and he does that often on public platforms. I enjoy the jokes he does on me and I have absolutely have no problems with that.

NDTV: What’s your favourite Shah Rukh joke on Aamir do you remember any?
Aamir: Well there are so many, I don’t remember ya.

NDTV: Well what happened after this? Did you call him or did you have a communication over this whole dog thing?
Aamir: Well we did speak about this few weeks later actually when I called him to invite him for the premiere of Jaane Tu and both of us laughed about it and it wasn’t any issue for both of us.

NDTV: But if you share a good relationship, it is not a very public relationship. Your public persona we have always talked about this, are so diametrically different. It’s just, what is it? Is it a kind of a mutual respect? Or more than that is there some kind of a friendship there?
Aamir: We do not meet that often because he is busy in his career but whenever we do meet there is a lot of fondness, there is respect and regard that we have for each other.

NDTV: What do you make of Shah Rukh’s school of acting? Shah Rukh, the 20-20 of acting and you are like the test match.
Aamir: No I don’t think so, I think….

NDTV: You are a cricket fan hence I am.
Aamir: I think the lengths of our films barring Lagaan are pretty much the same so I don’t think the length is different.

NDTV: No, I am talking in terms of approach.
Aamir: Even in terms of approach, I think the approach is dependent on the kind of material I am addressing. So, the kind of material that is there is in front of me that’s the way I approach it. For me everything is dictated by the script that we are trying to achieve. I think Shah Rukh is a very good actor, extremely charming. He has given us some great films, I have loved him in Kuch kuch Hota Hai. I have loved him in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge.

NDTV: Chak De did you see that?
Aamir: I haven’t but I have heard only good things about it.

NDTV: But you have never thought of working together?
Aamir: Well we have thought of it, Raj Kumar Santoshi had offered us a film but eventually that didn’t work out. I am sure if something comes up which excites both of us we would love to do it.

NDTV: Will that ever be possible, You and Shah Rukh in a film together?
Aamir: Ya, why not?

NDTV: What would that film be like? I mean it would be fascinating watching both of you all together.
Aamir: Well certainly it would be a script that both of us are excited about because that’s the way I work and I am assuming that’s the way he works.

NDTV: Are there any egos coming in the middle or anything?
Aamir: I don’t think so? Well Shah Rukh and I have worked together, a tour of live shows in the US and the UK together. We had a very comfortable working relationship. We would help each other in our entries. So, I think by the end of the day we both are team players and if we are working for a film and that’s what’s important.

NDTV: So, who’s no 1, you or Shah Rukh?
Aamir: You tell me that.

NDTV: Well recently you said it was you.
Aamir: No, it was just a joke. I think he is an extremely popular actor and a very big star and so am I. So, both of us have are own places.

NDTV: What happened with you and Mr Bachchan, do you think that again went a little out of hand with your comments on Black.
Aamir: Well, I have the highest regards for Mr Bachchan, what I said about the film was what I genuinely felt.

NDTV: You said you felt as though were watching Taming of the Shrew that’s quite strong Aamir.
Aamir: Well I didn’t like the film I have to say and if I upset him in any way them I am extremely apologetic about that because that is not my intention. I would in fact express the same thing to him.

NDTV: You had a problem with the film because of the way the children were potrayed or it was generally over the top. Because that’s the expression you used if you found it over the top.
Aamir: I think you should read my blog about this. You will exactly know what I felt about. I don’t think I would like to repeat myself on this because I really said what I had to. And if you really want to know you should really read my blog.

NDTV: But you have made your peace with Mr Bachchan because you said you have immense regards for him. But tell me you have also said that when you were responding to his perceived sense of, that he was always along with Dilip Kumar people whom you have always looked up to and you have always been influenced by.
Aamir: That’s true, I think as an audience I am really a big fan of Amit ji and Dilip Kumar and both of them are one of the best actors Indian cinema has produced.

NDTV: But you like so many others entering the industry, there is always this Banyan tree, it’s almost like the influence of these two virtually tended to define the films were made for the whole period in the 80’s and 90’s.Saif was actually telling me this in an interview, he said that one of the reasons why these films are so disastrous is because everyone was either trying to be like Amitabh Bachchan or talk like Amitabh Bachachan. Was that something that you ever faced?
Aamir: Well not personally, Amitabhji and Dilip Kumar had a huge influence on generations of actors and perhaps do in fact.

NDTV: But not you personally?
Aamir: Not me personally, I have tried to.

NDTV: To evolve Amir Khan’s school of acting.
Aamir: Not really, to put it that way. I have tried to be as honest as possible with each script that I have been offered and each character that I have been offered and my attempt is to play the character as honestly as possible. And I have tried to stay away from one particular style of acting even for myself. So, I am sure that there would be a certain degree of influence on me perhaps me even not realising it.

NDTV: Ya, probably like a subliminal thing.
Aamir: Sure, I think I can well imagine that.

NDTV: When you say you try to do different films and try to do the best that you can one with you would always go a step forward because you are either always directly directing or ghost directing these films. The reputation doesn’t leave you Aamir.
Aamir: Well, I think that’s primarily because of you guys.

NDTV: I don’t think so.. even with Taare Zameen Par.
Aamir: I didn’t ghost direct the film, I directed the film.

NDTV: You directed it but that was in the initial plan and the initial plan wasn’t.
Aamir: Certainly it wasn’t, in fact that should indicate to everyone that if I was happy about ghost directing then I would have done that in Taare Zameen Par. But I don’t think that’s a kind of person I am and I think I have been very fortunate to have worked with extremely talented directors.

NDTV: Directors do tend to get intimidated by you ,and many of them say that they refine you and you micro managing stuff, that continues to define your school of acting and just film producing.
Aamir: No, I think, for me the director is the most important person and it’s his vision that we all have to follow.

NDTV: Are you being diplomatic here?
Aamir: No, I am not.

NDTV: That’s not the reputation you have, I mean again Ram Gopal Verma, we were interviewing him recently whether he would like to work with you, he would love to. But he just fears that you would have your fixed ways of doing things and he wouldn’t know of how it would work with him.
Aamir: Well that’s entirely his prerogative, what can I say about that but I have had a very good relationship with most of my directors. May be you should come and see how I work on sets some day.

NDTV: Right, that’s probably the best way to decide about oneself. Do you feel that you have learnt to let go a little or are you saying that reputation that you had was never there in the first place?
Aamir: I am saying that it was never there in the first place, it’s entirely untrue.

NDTV: Aamir I want to ask you about something else, about the media. At some point of time you called the media I can’t remember the exact phrase but it was almost like what Tony Blair used that media is like a serial beast. You still feel strongly about it still as you felt earlier?
Aamir: I think so, I don’t think I have changed my opinion in that sense but I have also come to understand that like in the film world similarly in other walks of life including the media you have different kind of people, you have different kind of reporting you have different kind of reporters. Ya.

NDTV: You still feel that media has become it has become a tabloid.
Aamir: It still is a tabloid. I thin it is extremely sensational. I think what becomes headline is sometimes a personal story about somebody. I don’t think that this opinion is limited to me that is what most people who watch TV think.. . I haven’t seen any dramatic change in the last two years.

NDTV: You got caught in a tabloid that there was a rumoured split between you and Kiran. Was it upsetting?
Aamir: No not at all, it was not upseting because there was no truth in it.

NDTV: So when was for you personally the worst time?
Aamir: For me the worst time was when media was reporting in such an irresponsible way about my brother. That was the worst time for me.

NDTV: Aamir what about film awards?
Aamir: What about them?

NDTV: Exactly, you continue to treat film awards with utter this days. Even though you keep winning them.
Aamir: I don’t know whether you know that I have just been given an award by the Dinanath Mangeshkar trust, which I was very happy to receive.

NDTV: I know that.
Aamir: So, it’s not that I am against awards.

NDTV: But you are against certain kinds of awards. Your are against the Filmfare and the Stardust schools of awards and that is you continue to feel that despite that everything is changing in the film Industry. They are attempting to proffessionlise and modernize, you feel that this awards still tend to be.
Aamir: Yes.

NDTV: I don’t know for what to a better word lacking credibility.
Aamir: Well, I personally don’t have any value for them at this point of time and if things changes I’ll be happy two change my opinion.

NDTV: What is your fundamental problem with film awards, what do you think is fundamentally wrong with them.
Aamir: I think that in my opinion most of it doesn’t reflect quality work that’s my problem with it.

NDTV: What do you think then gets recognized instead or it’s just about presence.
Aamir: I think sometimes I feel perhaps may be as a community, as Indians, perhaps we are the kind of people we tend to connect more with the person than with his work. I find that we don’t have the ability to detach ourselves from the person.

NDTV: The star overwhelms the films sometimes.
Aamir: The personality it could be a star, producer or director overwhelms. It could be any one the director the producer. So typically if I was to see you as a person when I am talking about your film what I am feeling towards your film as well.

NDTV: That with medium like films it is very very personality based.
Aamir: Ya, but what I am trying to say is different I think that when your appreciating someone’s good work then what the emphasis should be is on the work and not on the person. So, the way I would like to see things happening is that work is good and you don’t say who has done it. This is the work we are appreciating.

NDTV: That is not what is happening.
Aamir: I don’t think so in my opinion.

NDTV: The funny thing is that you don’t go to these awards but you keep winning them.
Aamir: Weel it really hads not value for me.

NDTV: That’s quite a tough stand that you have taken.
Aamir: It is not tough for me, if I was to value them then I would be happy to go there. I don’t need anybody. In fact I have been given an award by ther Golapuri organisation, which is Chennai based and they give only one award, which is for best first time director for films made across the country. I am happy to have been selected as the person and I will be there to accept it. If I have value for it then I am happy for my work to be recgnised. And for me the most imp people are the audience for whom I am making the film. That is the first thing.

NDTV: Shatrughan Sinha said that IIFA awards were Baap, bahu, beti affairs. Do you agree with it?
Aamir: I will comment on this because I think that I have high regard for Amit ji and I know he is closely involved with that organization.

NDTV: Just in conclusion, one of the things about acting is obviously that it has a kind of finite scope as far as age is concerned and you sort of change roles and in India there is always a perception that actors somehow tend to extend that concept. Are you careful of that. Are you conscious of that you know will you be chasing a heroine half your age at 50.
Aamir I would love to do that.

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4. BOLLYWOOD KA BADSHAH KAUN ? Aamir Khan or Shahrukh Khan Proved Here
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