Aamir Khan

• 1. Introduction

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  Aamir Khan grew up in a Bombay home where the phone rang at least 30 times a day with creditors on the line. His father, the film producer Tahir Hussain, kept making films that mostly failed. The boy lived with the constant risk of being thrown out of school for unpaid fees. Khan was born on the 14th of March 1965 and became an Indian actor, filmmaker and television host working in Hindi cinema. His career now runs past 30 years.

  How does a child of that household become one of the most recognised faces in Indian film? Why does a man with dozens of nominations refuse to attend Indian award ceremonies? How did an actor from Bombay become a household name in China? And what happens when a star with that reach speaks his mind on politics? The chapters ahead follow those questions.

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• 2. Paranoia and the Stage

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  At sixteen, Khan joined his school friend Aditya Bhattacharya to make Paranoia, a 40-minute silent film. Filmmaker Shriram Lagoo, an acquaintance of Bhattacharya, paid for it with a few thousand rupees. Khan's parents wanted a steady career for him, as an engineer or a doctor. So the shoot stayed secret. He played the lead beside Neena Gupta and Victor Banerjee while also helping Bhattacharya, and he later said the experience pushed him toward film.

  Sport had been his other passion. Khan played tennis in state-level championships and became a state champion. He admitted he was much more into sports than studies. His schooling ran through J.B. Petit School, St. Anne's High School in Bandra and Bombay Scottish School in Mahim, and he finished twelfth grade at Mumbai's Narsee Monjee College. In 2014 he would play an exhibition doubles match alongside Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Sania Mirza.

  Film ran through his family. His uncle Nasir Hussain cast him at the age of eight in Yaadon Ki Baaraat, released in 1973 and described as the first masala film in Bollywood. A year later he played the younger version of Mahendra Sandhu's character in Madhosh. Nasir's son Mansoor Khan became a director who cast Aamir in most of his movies. On his mother's side, the Fazli brothers were filmmakers in both India and Pakistan.

  After the secret film, Khan joined a theatre group called Avantar and worked backstage for more than a year. His stage debut was a small role in the Gujarati play Kesar Bina at Prithvi Theatre. He then acted in two Hindi plays and an English one, Clearing House. Once school ended he dropped further study and became an assistant director to Hussain on the films Manzil Manzil and Zabardast. He also acted in documentaries made by students of the Film and Television Institute of India, and director Ketan Mehta noticed him in them.

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• 3. Stardom by Restraint

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  Ketan Mehta's Holi gave Khan his first adult feature role in 1984. The cast was an ensemble of newcomers, and the film adapted a play by Mahesh Elkunchwar about ragging in India. Khan played a rowdy college student, a part one Indian news channel called insignificant. The film found no broad audience.

  In 1988, Nasir Hussain and his son Mansoor cast Khan as the lead in Mansoor's directorial debut, Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, opposite Juhi Chawla. Khan played Raj, a clean-cut boy next door in a tale of unrequited love and parental opposition. The film won seven Filmfare Awards, including Best Male Debut for Khan, and made both leads stars. Raakh, a crime thriller by Bhattacharya, had been shot earlier and came out in 1989. It did poorly at the box office but earned critical praise. Khan received a National Film Award special mention for his work in both films.

  Five Khan films opened in 1990, and three of them failed. Tum Mere Ho, a fantasy drama from his father Tahir Hussain, was a hit. Dil, directed by Indra Kumar with Madhuri Dixit opposite him, became a blockbuster and the highest-earning film of 1990. Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin, a remake of the American film It Happened One Night, also did well.

  After those early years, Khan settled into one or two releases a year, which was unusual for a mainstream Hindi film star. His only 1996 release was Raja Hindustani, with Karisma Kapoor. It brought his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor after seven earlier nominations. It was the year's biggest hit and the third-highest-grossing Indian film of the 1990s. In Indian media he is often called Mr. Perfectionist for his dedication to the work.

  Not every choice paid off. Parampara in 1993 gathered Sunil Dutt, Vinod Khanna, Raveena Tandon and Saif Ali Khan, yet it failed with critics and audiences. A film called Time Machine was shelved over financial constraints and never released. Andaz Apna Apna, made with Salman Khan in 1994, drew poor reviews at first and later gained cult status.

  Then came Earth in 1998, Deepa Mehta's Canadian-Indian art house film. Critics including Roger Ebert praised Khan as Dil Nawaz, known as the Ice Candy Man.

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• 4. The Producer's Chair

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  In 1999, Khan founded Aamir Khan Productions. Its first film, Lagaan, arrived in 2001 and became India's third nominee ever for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, at the 74th Academy Awards. It won the National Film Award for Most Popular Film, shared between Khan and director Ashutosh Gowariker. After the loss, Khan said the team was disappointed, but the thing that kept their spirits up was that the entire country was behind them. Madness in the Desert, a documentary on the making of Lagaan, won him and director Satyajit Bhatkal a National Film Award at the 51st ceremony.

  Lagaan also tied into his private life. Reena Dutta, who had a small part in Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, had married Khan on the 18th of April 1986, and she worked as a producer on the film. They have a son, Junaid, and a daughter, Ira. Khan filed for divorce in December 2002, and Dutta took custody of both children. On the Lagaan set, Kiran Rao worked as an assistant director to Gowariker. She married Khan on the 28th of December 2005. On the 5th of December 2011 they announced the birth of their son Azad through a surrogate mother. In July 2021 they announced their separation and said they would raise Azad together. In March 2015 Khan said he had quit non-vegetarian food and become vegan, inspired by Rao.

  Khan also writes. He co-wrote the screenplay for Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke, in which he starred. He wrote the climax of Rang De Basanti in 2006. For Ghajini he changed the original 2005 Tamil film and rewrote its climax.

  In 2007 he made his directorial debut with Taare Zameen Par, which he also produced and acted in. Amole Gupte and Deepa Bhatia conceived and developed the idea. Critics and audiences embraced it. It won Filmfare Awards for Best Film and Best Director, and a National Film Award for Best Film on Family Welfare.

  The banner then widened its range. In 2008 his nephew Imran Khan debuted in Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na, a big hit produced by the company. Peepli Live was India's entry for the 83rd Academy Awards in 2010. Dhobi Ghat followed in 2011, and the English-language black comedy Delhi Belly was co-produced with UTV Motion Pictures. Talaash, a 2012 mystery, was a joint production with Excel Entertainment. Khan had never learned to swim, so he trained for three months for its underwater sequence.

  In 2024 he co-produced Laapataa Ladies with Kiran Rao and Jyoti Deshpande. Rao directed this satire about women in rural marriages. It premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and reached Netflix after its theatrical run. There it drew 13.8 million views in a month and became the second most watched Indian release of 2024. India chose it for the 97th Academy Awards, though it was not nominated.

  His next slate points to Partition. Batwara 1947, directed by Rajkumar Santoshi and starring Sunny Deol, Preity Zinta and Shabana Azmi, adapts Asghar Wajahat's play about Lahore. It is set for release on the 13th of August 2026. It was first titled Lahore 1947, and the name was reportedly changed to avoid political controversy.

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• 5. Uncle Aamir in China

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  Khan's father Tahir Hussain once had success in China with the film Caravan, but Indian films faded from Chinese screens afterward. Lagaan became the first Indian film to get a nationwide release there. The real turn came with 3 Idiots in 2009. At the time China was only the 15th largest film market, and pirated DVDs introduced the film to most Chinese viewers. It became a cult hit and ranked as China's 12th favourite film of all time on the review site Douban. Only one Chinese film, Farewell My Concubine, placed higher.

  The film had already made history at home. In the role of Ranchodas Chanchad, Khan starred in what was then the highest-grossing Bollywood film ever, breaking the record set by Ghajini. In May 2012 it became the first Indian film officially released on YouTube. It won six Filmfare Awards, including Best Film and Best Director.

  After 3 Idiots went viral in China, Taare Zameen Par and Ghajini also found cult followings. By 2013, China had become the world's second largest film market, behind the United States. That helped Dhoom 3 in 2013, PK in 2014 and Dangal in 2016. For Dangal, Khan played the wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat from age 20 to 60. He weighed 98 kg for the older version before slimming down for the younger one. The film passed PK to become the highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time in India, the fifth time he had set that kind of record. In China it ranked 16th among all films and was the highest-grossing non-Hollywood foreign film. Its worldwide earnings made Khan one of the best-paid non-Hollywood actors, at $42 million.

  Secret Superstar, released in October 2017, broke Dangal's record for the biggest opening weekend by an Indian film in China. His Chinese box office total reached $346.5 million, or 2,231 crore rupees. The success of these films pushed up what Chinese distributors paid to buy Indian imports.

  Chinese fans gave him names. Media there call him the conscience of India, because his films tackle social issues that domestic films often skip. Older coverage called him India's Andy Lau, while younger fans say Uncle Aamir or Mishu. He is the most followed Indian on the Chinese social site Sina Weibo, ahead of prime minister Narendra Modi. His book I'll Do it My Way sits in bookstores across China, and retailers sell Uncle Aamir phone cases and black hats styled after Dhoom 3. Commentators compare his reach with that of Rabindranath Tagore, Raj Kapoor and Nargis. India's commerce ministry has treated him as its brand ambassador to China.

  In 2017, China gave him an award naming him a National Treasure of India.

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• 6. Speaking to Social Causes

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  On the 6th of May 2012, Khan made his television debut with the talk show Satyamev Jayate, which took on social issues. It aired on StarPlus, Star World and the national broadcaster Doordarshan at 11 am on Sundays, in eight languages. No Indian show had done that before. Reviews from social activists, doctors and media houses were warm. Viewership was another story. The first episode scored an average rating of 2.9 across the six metro cities, watched by only 20 percent of television viewers there. That trailed most celebrity-hosted shows of the time.

  Time Asia put him on its September 2012 cover under the title Khan's Quest. The magazine asked whether an actor could change a nation. Time later placed him among the 100 most influential people in the world.

  His activism predates the show. In August 2011, he backed the Janlokpal Bill movement led by Anna Hazare. In February 2010 he quit the government's copyright panels after sharp differences with other members. On the 30th of November 2011, he became UNICEF's national brand ambassador to promote child nutrition, and in October 2014 he was named UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia. On the 16th of July 2012, he met the prime minister and the minister for social justice and empowerment to press for an end to manual scavenging.

  While promoting 3 Idiots, he travelled to small towns across India. He noted that filmmakers from Mumbai do not understand small-town India. Satyamev Jayate carried that outreach to regional audiences. He also says he wants his China success to help improve India-China ties, which political tensions strain.

  In 2016, he joined the Maharashtra government to make the state drought-free within five years. He asked people to become a Jal Mitra through shramdaan, voluntary labour. He told journalists that the show did not return to the air because everyone working on it was busy with this water project. With Rao, he co-founded the Paani Foundation, a non-profit focused on drought prevention and watershed management in Maharashtra.

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• 7. Backlash and Boycotts

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  In April 2006, Khan joined demonstrations by the Narmada Bachao Andolan, led by activist Medha Patkar, against raising the height of the Sardar Sarovar Dam. While promoting Fanaa in Gujarat, he commented on Narendra Modi's handling of the dam and on the need to rehabilitate displaced villagers. Modi was then the BJP chief minister of the state. The Gujarat government demanded an apology. Khan refused, saying he was repeating what the Supreme Court had said and would not apologise.

  An unofficial ban on Fanaa followed across Gujarat. Protesters burned posters of him. Multiplex owners said they could not guarantee customers' security, and every theatre owner in the state refused to screen the film. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh defended him, saying everyone has the freedom of expression and a comment on a subject is no reason to start protesting.

  A bigger storm broke in November 2015 at an event hosted by The Indian Express in New Delhi. Responding to violent attacks on Muslims and intellectuals, and to the lack of strong condemnation from the ruling BJP, Khan said Rao, fearing for her family, had suggested they move out of India. Indian media named the uproar the intolerance row. Some labelled him anti-national, while others agreed with his concerns.

  Much of the anger came from Hindu nationalist groups, aimed at a Muslim man married to a Hindu wife. Shiv Sena called his words the language of treachery, and the BJP called the episode a moral offence. Shiv Sena members burned posters in Ludhiana. Its Punjab chief, Rajeev Tandon, offered a reward to anyone who slapped him. The Khans received extra police protection. Khan answered that it saddened him to say they were only proving his point.

  Support arrived from Rahul Gandhi, Shah Rukh Khan, A. R. Rahman and Priyanka Chopra, among others. Critics included Anupam Kher and Raveena Tandon. A lawsuit was filed against Khan and Rao in a court at Jaunpur. He was dropped as brand ambassador of the government's Incredible India campaign. Snapdeal, a company he endorsed, distanced itself from his comments.

  In January 2016, Khan said he never claimed India was intolerant or thought of leaving, adding that he was born in India and will die in India. He blamed the media for taking his words out of context. Even so, the Vishva Hindu Parishad called for protests against Dangal in October 2016. After release that December, the hashtag BoycottDangal trended on Twitter, and BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya urged protests. The film became a massive hit anyway.

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• 8. Trophies and Setbacks

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  Khan has won nine Filmfare Awards from 32 nominations, yet he does not attend Indian film ceremonies. His reasoning is blunt. He has said Indian film awards lack credibility, and that apart from the National Film Awards he sees no ceremony worth giving value to. The stance cost him at the 2017 National Film Awards, where he was passed over for Best Actor for Dangal. Committee member Priyadarshan explained that the panel did not want to reward someone who refuses to attend. Khan made one exception, going to the 2002 Academy Awards so that Lagaan could reach a wider audience.

  The same instinct shaped smaller choices. In 2007 he turned down a wax figure at Madame Tussauds in London, saying he only had bandwidth for so much. In 2011 he accepted a place on the Berlin Film Festival jury, after refusing three times since 2008.

  Honours still arrived. The Government of India gave him the Padma Shri in 2003 and the Padma Bhushan in 2010. The Maulana Azad National Urdu University awarded him an honorary doctorate. In 2017, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences invited him to become a member, and Dangal earned him the inaugural Best Asian Film prize at Australia's 7th AACTA Awards. In December 2024 he was honoured on the opening night of Saudi Arabia's Red Sea Film Festival.

  Then the fortunes turned. In November 2018, Thugs of Hindostan paired him with Amitabh Bachchan in an action-adventure that ranked among the most expensive Bollywood films. Reviews were negative. It earned 335 crore rupees worldwide and was judged a financial failure.

  Laal Singh Chaddha, an adaptation of Forrest Gump directed by Advait Chandan, opened on the 11th of August 2022 to mixed reviews. It flopped and was declared a disaster. Khan told Hindustan Times he made many mistakes on many levels in the film, and thanked God he made them in just one film.

  After another three-year break, he returned in Sitaare Zameen Par, playing a suspended basketball coach ordered to do community service with a team of players with disabilities. Genelia D'Souza starred opposite him. It earned 266.49 crore rupees and counted as a hit, helped by a modest budget and warm response to its portrayal of neurodivergence. It still fell short of his peak years.

  In September 2025, speaking as a producer's ally, Khan criticised actors who ask producers to pay for cooks, trainers and drivers. Costumes, hair and makeup are fair costs for a production, he argued. Asking who would stop the demands, he warned they could one day stretch to children's school fees.

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