Aamir Khan
Aamir Hussain Khan is an Indian actor, filmmaker, and television personality who works in Hindi films. Referred to as "Mr. Perfectionist" in the media, through his career spanning over 30 years, Khan has established himself as one of the most notable actors of Indian cinema. Khan is the recipient of numerous awards, including nine Filmfare Awards, four National Film Awards, and an AACTA Award. He was honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Shri in 2003 and the Padma Bhushan in 2010, and received an honorary title from the Government of China in 2017.
Aamir Khan first appeared on screen as a child actor in his uncle Nasir Hussain's film Yaadon Ki Baaraat. As an adult, his first feature film role was in Holi. He began a full-time acting career with a leading role in Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. His performance in Raakh earned him recognition the Special Mention category. He established himself as a leading actor in the 1990s by appearing in a number of commercially successful films, including Dil, Rangeela, Raja Hindustani for which he won his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor, and Sarfarosh.
In 1999, he founded Aamir Khan Productions, whose first film, Lagaan, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and earned him a National Film Award for Best Popular Film and two more Filmfare Awards. His next Dil Chahta Hai was a critical and commercial success. After a four-year hiatus, Khan returned to appear in leading roles, notably in Rang De Basanti and Fanaa. He made his directorial debut with Taare Zameen Par, which won him the Filmfare Awards for Best Film and Best Director. Khan's biggest commercial successes came with Ghajini, 3 Idiots, Dhoom 3, PK, and Dangal, each having held the record for being the highest-grossing Indian film. Khan won his third Best Actor award at Filmfare for Dangal.
He has a large following, especially in India and China, and has been described by Newsweek as "the most bankable movie star in the world". He has been regularly listed among The 500 Most Influential Muslims of the world. He also created and hosted the television talk show Satyamev Jayate. His work as a social reformer earned him an appearance on the Time 100 list of most influential people in the world in 2013.
Early life and background
Mohammed Aamir Hussain Khan was born on 14 March 1965 in Bombay to Tahir Hussain, a film producer, and Zeenat Hussain. He is the second of four siblings; he has a younger brother—Faisal Khan—and two sisters, Farhat and Nikhat Khan.His family has roots from Herat in Afghanistan; Khan's paternal grandfather was a schoolteacher from a Pashtun zamindar background while his paternal grandmother was an Arab tracing her roots to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and a niece of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. Khan has expressed his wish to make a movie about Maulana Azad. Najma Heptulla, the 16th Governor of Manipur and the grand-niece of Maulana Azad, is Khan's cousin.
Several of his relatives were members of the Hindi film industry, including his late paternal uncle, producer-director Nasir Hussain. Nasir's son Mansoor Khan is a director who has cast Aamir in most of his movies while Nasir's grandson through his daughter, Imran Khan, is a former Hindi film actor. Through his mother, Khan is a nephew of the Fazli brothers, who have been filmmakers in both India and Pakistan.
As a child actor, he appeared on screen in two minor roles. At the age of eight, he appeared in Yaadon Ki Baaraat, which was the first masala film in Bollywood. The following year, he portrayed the younger version of Mahendra Sandhu's character in Madhosh. Khan attended J.B. Petit School for his pre-primary education, later switching to St. Anne's High School, Bandra, until the eighth grade, and completed his ninth and tenth grades at Bombay Scottish School, Mahim. He played tennis in state level championships and became a state-level champion. He professed he was "much more into sports than studies". He completed his twelfth grade at Mumbai's Narsee Monjee College, and described his childhood as "tough" due to the financial problems his father had, as his film productions were mostly unsuccessful. He said, "There would be at least 30 calls a day from creditors calling for their money," and that he was always at risk of being expelled from school for non-payment of fees.
At the age of sixteen, Khan got involved in the experimental process of making a 40-minute silent film, Paranoia, which was directed by his school friend Aditya Bhattacharya. The film was funded by filmmaker Shriram Lagoo, an acquaintance of Bhattacharya, who provided them with a few thousand rupees. His parents did not want him to make films and wished that he would instead pursue a "steady" career as an engineer or doctor; for that reason, the shooting schedule of Paranoia was kept secret. In the film, he played the lead role alongside actors Neena Gupta and Victor Banerjee while simultaneously assisting Bhattacharya. He said that the experience encouraged him to pursue a career in film.
Khan subsequently joined a theatre group called Avantar, where he worked backstage for over a year. He made his stage debut with a small role in the company's Gujarati play, Kesar Bina, at Prithvi Theatre. He went on to act in two of their Hindi plays, and one English play, which was titled Clearing House. After completing high school, Khan decided to discontinue studying, and work instead as an assistant director to Hussain on the Hindi films Manzil Manzil and Zabardast.
In 2007, he lost a custody battle for his younger brother Faisal to their father, Tahir Hussain, who died on 2 February 2010.
As a practising Muslim, he along with his mother Zeenat, performed Hajj, an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and a mandatory religious duty for Muslims, in 2013.
Acting career
1984–1989: Early struggle and breakthrough
In addition to assisting Hussain, he acted in documentaries directed by the students of the Film and Television Institute of India. Director Ketan Mehta noticed Khan in those films, and offered him a role in the low-budget experimental film Holi. Featuring an ensemble cast of newcomers, Holi was based on a play by Mahesh Elkunchwar, and dealt with the practice of ragging in India. The New York Times said that the film was "melodramatic" but "very decently and exuberantly performed by the nonprofessional actors". Khan played a rowdy college student, an "insignificant" role that was described by CNN-IBN as "lack in finesse".Holi failed to attract a broad audience, but Hussain and his son Mansoor cast him as the leading man in Mansoor's directorial debut Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak opposite Juhi Chawla. The film is a tale of unrequited love and parental opposition, with Aamir Khan portraying Raj, a "clean-cut, wholesome boy-next-door". It became a major commercial success, and catapulted both Khan and Chawla to stardom. It received seven Filmfare Awards including a Best Male Debut trophy for him.
Raakh, a crime thriller from Bhattacharya that was filmed before the production of Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, was released in 1989. Despite a poor reception at the box office, the film was critically acclaimed. Khan was awarded a National Film Award – Special Jury Award / Special Mention for his performances in both Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and Raakh. Later that year, he reunited with Chawla for the romantic comedy Love Love Love, a commercial failure.
1990–2004: Rise to prominence and hiatus
Khan had five releases in 1990. He found no success in Awwal Number, Deewana Mujh Sa Nahin and Jawani Zindabad. However, Tahir Hussain's fantasy drama Tum Mere Ho again co-starring Chawla was a hit and Indra Kumar's romantic drama Dil opposite Madhuri Dixit emerged a blockbuster as well as the highest-earning film of 1990. This was followed by a leading role alongside Pooja Bhatt in Mahesh Bhatt's Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin, a remake of the American film It Happened One Night, which too was a box office hit.He appeared in several other films in the early 1990s, including Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke , and Rangeela. Most of these films were successful critically and commercially. Other successes include Andaz Apna Apna alongside Salman Khan; at the time of its release, the movie was reviewed unfavorably by critics, but over the years has gained cult status. In 1993, Khan also appeared in Yash Chopra's action drama film Parampara. Despite having an ensemble cast that included Sunil Dutt, Vinod Khanna, Raveena Tandon, and Saif Ali Khan, the film failed to find a wide audience and became a critical and commercial failure. Khan was also cast in Time Machine; however, due to financial constraints, the film was shelved and remained unreleased.
He continued to act in just one or two films a year, which was an unusual trait for a mainstream Hindi cinema actor. His only release in 1996 was the Dharmesh Darshan directed huge blockbuster Raja Hindustani, in which he was paired opposite Karisma Kapoor. The film earned him his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor after seven previous nominations, and went on to become the biggest hit of the year, as well as the third-highest grossing Indian film of the 1990s. Adjusted for inflation, Raja Hindustani is the fourth highest-grossing film in India since the 1990s. In 1997, he acted in Ishq, which proved to be another blockbuster for him. The following year, Khan appeared in Vikram Bhatt's action thriller Ghulam, for which he also did playback singing. The film received positive response from reviewers and went on to become a hit at the box office.
John Mathew Matthan's Sarfarosh, Khan's first film in 1999, was also a commercially successful venture. The film and Khan were highly appreciated by movie critics, as was his role in Deepa Mehta's Canadian-Indian art house film Earth. Earth was internationally acclaimed by critics such as Roger Ebert for Khan's portrayal of Dil Nawaz. His first release for the 2000s, Mela, in which he acted alongside his brother Faisal, was both a box office and critical failure.
In 2001, he produced and starred in Lagaan, and received a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at the 74th Academy Awards. The film also received critical acclaim at several international film festivals, in addition to winning numerous Indian awards such as a National Film Award. Khan also won his second Filmare Award for Best Actor.
Lagaan success was followed by Dil Chahta Hai later that year. The film was written and directed by then-debutant Farhan Akhtar, and won the 2001 Filmfare Award for Best Film. He then took a four-year break from Bollywood after his divorce from Reena Dutta.