Aamir Khan doesn’t believe in numbers or breaking records. All that he wants this time around is for people to like his film and understand the message that both he and Rajkummar intended to convey through PK. “If people will like the film, numbers will follow,” said Aamir to us when we met him for an interview recently. Excerpts from the conversation:
You sport an unwavering wide-eyed expression throughout the film. Was it difficult maintaining the same while shooting?
I have varied expressions throughout the movie and one of them is the wide-eyed one where I don’t blink. It came out during one of the rehearsal shoots when we were testing our look and costumes and it was on camera. Once when we were shooting, Vinod (Vidhu Vinod Chopra, producer) came on sets and he suggested to try the same non-blinking take. So we tried it that way till it worked for us and that is how we decided the character by and large. Yes, it was difficult for me to maintain that expression because I also wear green lenses in the movie. And when you wear lenses it is difficult to not blink.
Initially, I did face some problem but I solved it by concentrating on either a person or an object so hard that in my head I didn’t blink at all.
Are you playing an alien in the movie?
That’s one of the many rumours that have been floating around.
So what’s the answer to the above question?
(Smiles)This is a question that we haven’t answered consistently as we would like you to discover it yourself.
Who suggested using Bhojpuri language in the movie?
I did because I thought Bhojpuri would lend a certain colour to the character and Raju liked it.
But don’t you feel many people will not understand it?
When we were doing Lagaan, a lot of people told us that Awadhi will not be understood by many. As filmmakers, we don’t use the language in its pure form which of course will not be understood by everyone. In Lagaan, we kept the level of Awadhi simple so that a normal person could also understand. Similarly, it’s the simpler version of Bhojpuri in PK that we have used. When we were doing Rangeela, a lot of people said that the tapori language in the movie will only be understood by the people of Mumbai but that didn’t happen. So if you keep the right balance, it will work.
Do you think the message intended to deliver may get lost due to the humour used in the film?
On the contrary, humour is a lovely vehicle to get your message across. It is important for people to be entertained to understand the message. 3 Idiots is a classic example where the message went home so much so that people actually changed their careers. So I don’t think humour disturbs the flow of the film in getting the message across to people.
SRK and Salman have done exceedingly well this year. Keeping that in mind, do you feel any additional pressure on your shoulders to deliver at the box-office?
There is no pressure to deliver at the box-office. Numbers are a possible indicator of how much people have liked the film but that is not the only indicator. Numbers can be misleading at times. When the script was narrated to me, it made me feel certain things. Raju too had a certain vision in mind about how the film should be. So what concerns me is not numbers. What concerns me is how the film will manage to achieve Raju’s dream and will it touch the hearts of people as much as it did ours. That’s our concern. Numbers will follow, if the film is good and people like it.
So you are not concerned about breaking your own record of Dhoom 3?
I have no plans of breaking any records. Had numbers mattered, I wouldn’t have done a film like Lagaan. On the face of it, Lagaan looked like a disaster when I started out. If I had been obsessed about numbers, I wouldn’t have done a Rang De Basanti because it was essentially the 5th remake of Bhagat Singh and Azad. I wouldn’t also be doing a Taare Zameen Par if numbers mattered. I did all these films because I loved them. My choice of films is dictated by my creative instincts and what moves me as a creative person and as a human. That drives me to accept it. Number is the last thing on my mind when it comes to saying yes to a script. After I accept the film, I have to make sure that the film is economically viable which is again very different from numbers. For example, when we do a Taare Zameen Par we try to spend no more than 15 crore because we know that the potential is not huge. That it went on to do bigger business than Dhoom 2 is something we didn’t expect. No one could predict that. So my choice of films is dictated by my instinct. The day I start choosing films for numbers, it will be my death as a creative person.
SRK recently introduced his son AbRam in Happy New Year. Do you have any plans of intrioducing Azad through your movies?
Oh no no. Nothing at all.
The three Khans finally shared the same podium at a media event in Delhi. Can we ever see you three in a movie together?
I don’t think there is anything special about all three of us being on the same stage. We have been on the same stage a lot many times in our life and the Delhi event was not the first and I hope it is not our last either. Doing a film together is a much bigger responsibility than hanging out together. It would have to be a script that all three of us are excited about.
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