Doing the Khan way

Sonia from Pune

Being amongst the top ranking Khans in the industry lets take a peak into what he wants to say behind his success mantra- do just one movie per year

It would be tough to slot Aamir Khan. Just ask most critics and journalists who have interviewed him. The star can wow his audience while he demystifies movies or whips up a marketing frenzy. Tagged perfectionist, a marketing genius and now Mr Blockbuster, Khan's success sory is what masala Hindi films are made of. Born to producer Tahir Hussain, Aamir Khan's debut film Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak refashioned Bollywood’s language and his latest 3 Idiots rewrote history!

22 years and 32 films later – Aamir turns 45 on March 14with controversy, awards, friends and fights strewn along the way. Let’s take a sneak peak at his best roles without the ‘masala’.

Aamir Khan's effervescent debut made him an overnight sensation. His portrayal of a teenage-lover was everything giggly girls wanted to see on-screen.

Aamir Khan's tapori Munna set off a slew of characters. Like Aamir recounts in an interview: "Ramu had four flops before this. Urmila (Matondkar) had eight. The film had no story."And yet it spiraled all their careers into the fast-track! His street smart tapori's claim to love and good life had an unbelievably soppy and sugar-sweet ending. But it had us all rooting for this underdog.

His role of 'Raja' stayed raw and honest, not ashamed of his origin. And though it earned him the tag of a boorish chauvinistic husband, he still made a mark with the audience! Much was made of the lip lock and Karisma’s stunning transformation, yet it was Aamir who made this movie stand out, winning him his first Filmfare Best Actor Award.

As he often says, "Waise bhi perfection ko improve karna mushkil hota hain."

Setting off cool in his own way, Aamir played Akash; who, he states in an interview, "generally does his own thing. The only difference between Akash and me is that I believe in love. Akash doesn't." Establishing his own relevance in Bollywood like his character, Khan gave Akash a character graph and an attitude that even the word cool couldn't.

In an interview of his simple story of a dyslexic child, and one which questioned the education system, Aamir Khan stated that he would be broken in Taare Zameen Par didn’t work.Direction was always on Aamir Khan's radar and it was always as he stated on many occasions, a matter of when than why!

Playing art-school teacher Ram Shankar Nikhumb, he highlighted in the second half of the film, what a great school teacher can do for a student.
The film was racked with controversy especially when writer Amol Gupte raised questions about who really directed the film.

ghajini look. CREDIT:chakpak.com