Why is Aamir Khan such a mega star?
Aamir Khan ‘s latest film Dangal collected Rs.350 crore on the 19th day (January 10) of its release from Indian box office.
This not only makes Dangal the biggest Bollywood movie of all time, surpassing Aamir’s own 2014 blockbuster PK, but also the first film to cross the Rs.350 crore barrier.
Aamir Khan has been a trendsetter when it comes to creating box office barriers.
In 2008, his film Ghajini was the first Indian film to cross the Rs.100 crore box office business barrier.
He scaled up the barrier for others to follow the very next year with 3 Idiots, which became the first film to cross Rs.200 crore in the box office.
The superstar followed it up with PK in 2014 when it became the first film to cross Rs.300 crore.
Box office statistics apart, Aamir’s films are known to have strong content and he works hard to make his characters believable according to the demands of the scripts.
Besides, film critics and box office analysts say, his films do wonders at
Besides, film critics and box office analysts say, his films do wonders at box office because he allows other characters in his films to flourish, sometimes at his own screen space.
Here are 10 interesting things that might have shaped his career and way to become the Mr. Perfectionist of Bollywood.
1. Aamir was born on March 14, 1965, in a family deep into films.
His father was film producer Tahir Hussain while paternal uncle Nasir Hussain was a top producer-director of the seventies.
He is also related to freedom fighter and one of India’s best secular icons Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad.
2. When he was eight years old, he debuted in a minor role in hugely popular film Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973), directed by Nasir Hussain and starring Dharmendra.
3. During his school days, his family faced financial difficulties after some films produced by his father were unsuccessful.
Aamir Khan had said in several interviews that he was always scared of getting expelled from school due to non-payment of school fees as creditors kept knocking at their doors. Aamir has studied up to Class 12.
4. When he was 16 years old, Aamir was involved in the making of a 40-minute silent film called Paranoia along with school friend Aditya Bhattacharya.
The film was made on a shoe-string budget of few thousands generously given to Aditya by veteran theatre and film personality Sriram Lagoo.
Aamir was among the lead actors including Neena Gupta and Victor Banerjee. He also assisted Bhattacharya in direction. He worked for the film secretly as his parents did not want him to take up the film as a career and wished him to be a doctor or engineer.
However, Aamir thought seriously about getting into acting following the experience of working in Paranoia.
5. He joined a theatre group, Avantar, to hone his acting skills and stagecraft. After engaging himself in backstage activities for around a year, he made his debut in a Gujarati play at Prithvi Theatre. It was followed by two Hindi plays and one English play.
6. He discontinued studied after high school and started assisting his uncle Nasir in two films, Manzil Manzil (1984) and Zabardast (1985), both having the then teenage sensation Sunny Deol.
7. Besides working as assistant director, Aamir also started appearing in several documentaries made by students of Film and Television Institute of India at Pune.
Impressed with his performance, director Ketan Mehta offered Aamir a role Holi (1984), an acclaimed film about ragging in colleges.
8. Four year after Holi, Aamir played the lead role in Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak.
Produced by uncle Nasir and directed by his son Mansoor Khan, QSQT became a huge hit catapulting Aamir and co-star Juhi Chawla to stardom.
In 1989, Aamir starred in Raakh, directed by friend Aditya.
Though not a major box office success, Raakh was highly acclaimed, especially for Aditya’s direction and Aamir’s intensity, which was reflected in his later films like Ghulam, Sarfarosh, Earth, Lagaan, Ghajini, Talaash, 3 Idiots, PK and Dangal.
9. After a few of insignificant films flopped following the super success of QSQT, Aamir Khan decided to focus on one film at a time and he has maintained that till now.
One-film-at-a-time policy has worked in his favour because even a supposedly unsuccessful film like Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005) is said to have earned profit for the producers.
10. In 1999, Aamir launched his own production company Aamir Khan Production and produced Lagaan (2001), a widely acclaimed film as well as big box office hit.
Lagaan, directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, was nominated by the prestigious Academy Awards in the category of Best Foreign Language Film.
After Lagaan, AKP produced Taare Zameen Par (2007), Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na (2008), Pipli Live (2010), Dhobi Ghat (2011), Delhi Belly (2011), Talaash (2012) and Dangal (2016).
A film for children Secret Superstar is slated to be released in August this year.
Aamir made his directorial debut in TZP besides acting in it.
Big Wire
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