From the films that change his life to the films that he can watch over and over again, contemporary Hindi film cinema’s most versatile actor Aamir Khan talks about the movies that really matter to him.
1. Your fans would like to know about your film viewing habits and your film interest. Is there any film that changed your life, perhaps a film that made you want to be an actor or a film that you watched in your formative years that showed you the power of cinema?
I think there would be some films, which did that. One of them could be Pyasa. Pyasa, I remember watching seven or eight times and I was really moved by the film and the impact it had on me and the kind of honesty and sensitivity the director showed came to me and that really got me excited about cinema, and the power of story telling and how can it affect you. So, I think Pyasa, can be one such film. Mughal-e-Azam, I think, Mother India, Teesri Manzil, Caravan.
These were the films I saw in my growing years which got me into the world of cinema and which got me excited about story-telling, lost in a world – sometimes in fantasy, sometimes as in case of Pyasa, something which is more thought provoking.
2. Is there a film, which you are never tired of watching again and again?
Yes, there are number of them actually. Teesri Manzil is one of them, The Last Crusade. Yes, these are the two names which come to me straight away.
3. Is there any film recently, which made you go, I wish I was in this?
No, I don’t remember feeling that way. You know the thing is that if I like a film, I can’t imagine myself in it because if I like it, I like everything about it.
4. May be a film you watched where there is a great role for an actor.
Forrest Gump, is one of those films, I would love to do. But, when I see the actor then I feel that he has done a great job so I shouldn’t be there. I preferred to watch him because I have been affected by his performance. So, usually when I end up liking a film, I find it difficult to see myself in it because I feel that the actor who has done it has done a good job.
5. When was the last time you saw a performance that was so good that compelled you to call the actor and tell him what you thought?
I saw a film recently of Vijay Raj and I thought he was very good so I him and spoke to him about it. I remember really loving Boman (Boman Irani)’s film Let’s Talk and I in fact met him after that, I thought his performance was really outstanding, so number of times it has happened.
6. The one filmmaker whose film you try not to miss?
I am not a very avid film watcher, I am more into books. It is strange because I love films and it is not that I don’t enjoy watching them. When I am watching a film, I really get engrossed in it, I am an ideal audience, who can be easily manipulated.
7. So, one book you would like to be adapted to the screen?
I don’t know, may be Mahabharata, I would like to see that..
The one actor who has most inspired you in your career.
I think, Dilip Kumar. I have really found him quite amazing .
8. Finally, one film of yours which 50 years later, people will still be talking about.
I don’t know, but I am hoping that they will be talking about some of my films – Lagaan, Taare Zameen Par. There are number of other films also which I enjoyed doing because it is very difficult for films to pass the test of time, often films which are even 10 years old we find them so funny now, we wonder that why did we like them…
9. So, you think these are the themes which will be relevant even then?
It is not the theme, they can’t remain relevant 50 years from now but because if a film is well made it connects with the audience. Like today, Mughal-e-Azam, Mother India, Garam Hawa, these are the movies which still move you and enthrall as it would have the audience at that time. So, I think films well-made, well-written, well-executed with honesty are films which stand the test of time.
From the films that change his life to the films that he can watch over and over again, contemporary Hindi film cinema's most versatile actor Aamir Khan talks about the movies that really matter to him.
