In the midst of introspection during the Covid-19 pandemic, Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan considered quitting cinema. Since then, the Indian actor and producer has changed his mind and intends to continue a rich career that began in the 1970s.
Draped in a thick shawl, with a well-groomed mustache, he tells AFP that he went through a period of self-questioning a few years ago.
“It was in the middle of the Covid crisis, I was thinking about a whole bunch of things and I realized that I had spent my entire adult life in this magical world of cinema,” he recalls during from an interview in London.
Starring many successful films in his country, such as “3 Idiots”, “Dangal” and “Taare Zameen Par”, Aamir Khan is also known for producing and starring in “Lagaan”, which garnered an Academy Award nomination. foreign film in 2002.
His acting career began from childhood in the 1970s and his name is closely associated with Bollywood.
I realized that I had “not really given my personal life the importance that I would have liked,” he explains.
“I had a hard time overcoming the feeling of having wasted a lot of time, I felt a lot of guilt… My first instinct was to say that I had had enough of cinema.”
But his family, especially his two children, convinced him not to retire. “In my head, I was like, I’ll stop. And then I didn’t,” he says.
Now, as he approaches his 60th birthday in March, Aamir Khan, who lives in Mumbai, wants to “continue acting and producing for some time to come”.
– “Surprise the audience” –
He also plans to make his company, Aamir Khan Productions, “a platform to encourage new talents whose sensibilities are close to (his)”. “And who want to tell stories that touch (him).”
Like “Lost Ladies”, a comedy about two young women from a rural region of India offering a reflection on marriage and the status of women in this country, which he co-produced with his ex-wife Kiran Rao and of which he was recently promoting in London.
Many of his films address social issues, whether it be women’s rights in rural areas, the sports industry, excessive pressure in higher education or the rights of people with disabilities.
But Khan refuses to lock himself into just one type of film or role. “I like to vary genres and touch on different kinds of stories. I like to surprise myself and my audience,” he says.
The star doesn’t hesitate to criticize herself either. He confides that he was “not satisfied” with his performance in “Laal Singh Chaddha”, an Indian adaptation of “Forrest Gump” produced in 2022. A film which did not have the laudatory reception usually reserved for his work.
“I hope this one will be better,” he comments about his latest film, “Sitaare Zameen Par”, soon to be released.
Although he has won dozens of film awards in India as well as the third highest civilian honor in his country, Aamir Khan questions himself with each of his films.
“Making a film is very difficult,” he emphasizes. “When I look at the film we made, and then the screenplay we wrote, I wonder if the film achieved the goals we set for ourselves.”
“And if we got where we wanted, and we made the film we wanted, then that’s a big relief,” he says.
