Aamir Khan

Born                   Mohammed Aamir Hussain Khan

                              14 March 1965 (age 50)

                              Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Nationality       Indian

Occupation       Actor, producer, director, screenwriter, television personality,     

                             Social worker

Years active   1984–present

Religion           Islam

Spouse(s)         Reena Dutta (m. 1986; div. 2002)

                             Kiran Rao (m. 2005)

Children         3

Parent(s)        Tahir Hussain

                             Zeenat Hussain

Relatives         Faisal Khan (brother)

                             Nikhat Khan (sister)

                             Nasir Hussain (uncle)

                             Imran Khan (nephew)

 

Aamir Khan (pronounced [ˈaːmɪr ˈxaːn]; born Mohammed Aamir Hussain Khan on 14 March 1965) is an Indian film actor, director, producer, television personality, social worker, screenwriter and philanthropist.Through his successful career in Hindi films, Khan has established himself as one of the most popular and influential actors of Indian cinema. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including four National Film Awards and seven Filmfare Awards. He was honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Shri in 2003 and the Padma Bhushan in 2010.

Khan first appeared on screen as a child actor in his uncle Nasir Hussain's film Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973). His first feature film role came with the experimental film Holi (1984), and he began a full-time acting career with a leading role in the highly successful tragic romance Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988). His performance in the film and in the thriller Raakh (1989) earned him a Special Jury Award at the National Film Award ceremony. He established himself as a leading actor of Hindi cinema in the 1990s by appearing in several commercially successful films, including the romantic drama Dil (1990), the romance Raja Hindustani (1996), for which he won his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor, and the drama Sarfarosh (1999). He was also noted for playing against type in the critically acclaimed Canadian-Indian film Earth (1998).

In 2001, Khan started a production company, whose first release, 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 (Best Actor and Best Film). After a four-year absence from the screen, Khan continued to portray leading roles, most notably in the 2006 box-office hits Fanaa and Rang De Basanti. The following year, he made his directorial debut with Taare Zameen Par, a major success that garnered him the Filmfare Awards for Best Film and Best Director. Khan's greatest commercial successes came with the thriller Ghajini (2008), the comedy-drama 3 Idiots (2009), the adventure film Dhoom 3 (2013), and the satire PK (2014), all of which held records for being the highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time.

In addition to acting, Khan is a humanitarian and has participated and spoken out for various social causes, some of which have sparked political controversy. He has created, and featured as the host of the television talk show Satyamev Jayate through which he highlights sensitive social issues in India. Khan was married to his first wife, Reena Dutta, for fifteen years after which he married the film director Kiran Rao. He has three children—two with Dutta, and one with Rao through surrogacy.

 

Early life and background

Khan was born on 14 March 1965 in Mumbai to Tahir Hussain, a film producer, and Zeenat Hussain. Several of his relatives were members of the Hindi film industry, including his late paternal uncle, the producer-director Nasir Hussain. He is related to the Indian philosopher Abul Kalam Azad who is related to him through his grandmother. Khan is the eldest of four siblings; he has a brother, the actor Faisal Khan, and two sisters, Farhat and Nikhat Khan.His nephew, Imran Khan, is a contemporary Hindi film actor.

As a child, Khan appeared on screen in two minor roles. At the age of eight, he appeared in a highly popular song in the Nasir Hussain-directed musical film Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973). The following year, he portrayed the younger version of Mahendra Sandhu's character in his father's production Madhosh. Khan attended J.B. Petit School for his pre-primary education, later switching to St. Anne's High School, Bandra till the eight grade, and completed his ninth and tenth grade at the Bombay Scottish School, Mahim. He played tennis in state level championships, and has professed being "much more into sports than studies". He completed his twelfth grade from Mumbai's Narsee Monjee College. Khan described his childhood as "tough" due to the financial problems faced by his father whose film productions were mostly unsuccessful; he said, "there would be at least 30 calls a day from creditors calling for their money" and he was always at risk of being expelled from school for non-payment of fees.

At the age of sixteen, Khan was involved in the experimental process of making a 40-minute silent film, entitled Paranoia, that was directed by his school friend Aditya Bhattacharya. The film was funded by the filmmaker Shriram Lagoo, an acquaintance of Bhattacharya, who provided them with a few thousand rupees. Khan's parents opposed to his joining films due to their own experiences, wishing that he would instead pursue a "steady" career of an engineer or doctor, and thus the shooting schedule of Paranoia was a clandestine one. In the film, he played the lead role alongside actors Neena Gupta and Victor Banerjee, while simultaneously assisting Bhattacharya. He said that the experience of working on it encouraged him to pursue a career in film.

Khan subsequently joined a theatre group called Avantar, where he performed backstage activities 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 two of their Hindi plays, and one English play, which was titled Clearing House. After completing his high-school education Khan decided to discontinue studying, despite the objection of his parents, choosing instead to work as an assistant director to Nasir Hussain on two Hindi films—Manzil Manzil (1984) and Zabardast (1985).

 

Personal life

Khan married Reena Dutta, who had a small part in Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, on 18 April 1986. They have two children, a son named Junaid and a daughter, Ira. Reena was involved briefly in Khan's career when she worked as a producer for Lagaan. In December 2002, Khan filed for divorce, ending the 15-year marriage. Reena took custody of both children.

On 28 December 2005, Khan married Kiran Rao who had been an assistant director to Ashutosh Gowariker during the filming of Lagaan. On 5 December 2011, Khan and his wife announced the birth of their son, Azad Rao Khan, through a surrogate mother. In 2007, Khan lost a custody battle for his younger brother Faisal to their father, Tahir Hussain. His father died on 2 February 2010.

In March 2015, Khan stated that he has quit non vegetarian food and has adopted vegan lifestyle after being inspired by his wife Kiran Rao.

 

In the media

In a 2009 interview, Khan states that he tends to take an independent approach to the world of filmmaking, noting that he does not "do different things; I try to do it in a different manner. I think every person should follow his/her dream and try and make it possible to create an ability to achieve it backed by its practicality." He has also indicated that he is more interested in the process of filmmaking than in the end result: "For me, the process is more important, more joyful. I would like to have my entire concentration on the process right from the first step."

Khan has a reputation for shunning award ceremonies and not accepting any popular Indian film awards. Though nominated many times, Khan has not attended any Indian film award ceremony as he feels "Indian film awards lack credibility".[109] When asked about the selection procedure and authenticity of popular Indian Film awards, Aamir Khan says, "fact is that I have no objections to film awards per se. I just feel that if I don't value a particular film award, then I won't attend it either. Apart from the National Film Awards, I don't see any other award ceremony that I should give value to. My personal experience about these award ceremonies is that I don't trust them. I have no faith in them so I would prefer to stay away."

In 2007, Khan was invited to have a wax imitation of himself put on display at Madame Tussauds in London. However, Khan declined, stating that "It's not important to me... people will see my films if they want to. Also, I cannot deal with so many things, I have bandwidth only for that much."

In April 2013, He was among TIME magazine's list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. He was honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Shri in 2003 and the Padma Bhushan in 2010.

In February 2015, Aamir Khan lashed out at a popular online comedy group All India Bakchod for its celebrity Roast episode. He said ‘I completely believe in freedom of speech, no issues. But we have to understand that we all have a certain responsibility. When I heard what was being described to me I felt it was a violent event.’ He further said violence is not just physical but it has verbal aspects to it. Calling the roast a shameless act, Aamir Khan did not spare even his friends from the film industry Karan, Ranveer and Arjun.

 

Blockbuster films

In 2008, Khan appeared in the movie Ghajini. The film was a major commercial success and became the highest grossing Bollywood movie of that year. For his performance in the film, Khan received several Best Actor nominations at various award ceremonies as well as his fifteenth Filmfare Best Actor nomination.

In 2009, Khan appeared in the commercially and critically acclaimed film 3 Idiots as Ranchodas Chanchad. 3 Idiots became the highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time in India at that time, breaking the previous record set by Ghajini which also starred Aamir Khan.3 Idiots also became one of the few Indian films to become a major success in East Asian markets such as China, eventually bringing its overseas total to US$25 million—the highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time in overseas markets. It was expected to be the first Indian film to be officially released on YouTube, within 12 weeks of releasing in theatres on 25 March 2010, but finally got officially released on YouTube in May 2012. The film also went on to win many awards, winning six Filmfare Awards including best film and best director, ten Star Screen Awards and sixteen IIFA Awards Around August 2011, Khan started talks with Siddhartha Basu's BIG Synergy, to host a talk show, similar to The Oprah Winfrey Show.

On 6 May 2012, the highly anticipated show Satyamev Jayate debuted in English and all major Indian languages and received both popular and critical praise for its discussions on various social issues like female foeticide, child sexual abuse and dowry plaguing Indian society.

There was speculation that Khan had disagreements with Reema Kagti over the tone of the film, Talaash, which delayed its release date significantly. However Khan said that the claims were baseless. The film was released and was a hit.

Khan next venture was Dhoom 3 with Yash Raj Films. He has considered this to be his most difficult role in his career to date. The film was released worldwide on 20 December 2013. Upon the release the film was hugely appreciated by the critics and public and the film went on smashing all box office records. Box Office India declared Dhoom 3 "the biggest hit of 2013" after two days of release, with the film grossing ₹2 billion (US$31 million) worldwide in three days. with the film grossing ₹4 billion (US$61 million) worldwide in ten days, making it the highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time.

In 2014, Khan appeared as the eponymous alien in Rajkumar Hirani's comedy-drama PK. It also starred Anushka Sharma, Sushant Singh Rajput, Boman Irani and Sanjay Dutt in pivotal roles. The film received critical acclaim and emerged as the highest grossing Bollywood film of all time (the fourth time Khan achieved this feat). Khan's performance was unanimously praised by critics. Raja Sen called the film a "triumph" and said: "Aamir Khan is exceptional in PK, creating an irresistibly goofy character and playing him with absolute conviction."

 

National honours

2003 - Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India.

2010 - Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India.

2013 - Honorary Doctorate by Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) for his distinguished contribution to the Indian cinema and entertainment industry.

 

IIFA Awards

Year    Category                                           Film               Result

2010   IIFA Best Actor Award         3 Idiots'          Nominated

 

Honours and recognitions

In March 2001, he was ranked as the 3rd Most Powerful Indian Film Star by Forbes.

In December 2001, he was named "Man of the Year" by Bombay Times.

In 2002, he was a member of the jury of the Locarno film festival.

In April 2008, he received a "Special Award" from Master Dinanath Mangeshkar Smruti Pratisthan for his services to Indian cinema.

In January 2009, he received "Indian of The Year in Cinema" Award by NDTV

In January 2009, he received the "Indian of the Year in Entertainment" Award from CNN-IBN.

In May 2009, he received "Raj Kapoor Smriti Vishesh Gaurav Puraskar" by the Government of Maharastra for outstanding contribution to the Indian cinema.

In August 2012, he featured on the cover page of the TIME.

In April 2013, he was among TIME magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World List.

 

Winner

2001 – Bollywood People's Choice Awards: Best Actor for Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India

2008 – Planet Bollywood People's Choice Awards: Best Director for Taare Zameen Par

2008 – Planet Bollywood People's Choice Awards: Best Supporting Actor for Taare Zameen Par

2008 – V. Shantaram Awards: Best Film Gold Award for Taare Zameen Par

2008 – V. Shantaram Awards: Best Director Silver Award for Taare Zameen Par

2010 – Dadasaheb Phalke Award: Phalke Memorial Performance Award for 3 Idiots.

2013 – Inaugural America Abroad Media Award for Satyamev Jayate.

2014 - ETC Bollywood Business Award: Highest Grossing Actor (male) Award for Dhoom 3

2014 - ETC Bollywood Business Award: Most Profitable Actor Award for Dhoom 3

2014 - Star Box Office India Award: Actor Of The Year(Male) for Dhoom 3

2015 - ETC Bollywood Business Award: Highest Grossing Actor (male) Award for PK