In a special collaboration with Zee Studios, Punam Sharrma interviewed the one and only Aamir Khan at the Marina Bay Sands MasterCard Theatres on Monday night.
The Bollywood icon, in Singapore for promoting his latest movie Secret Superstar, had a fan meet titled ‘In Conversation With Aamir Khan’ where he opened up about the upcoming movie, his acting career and personal life.
Also read – Aamir Khan in Singapore to promote ‘Secret Superstar’
He also talked about how his latest role was one outside his comfort zone. "Shakti Kumar possesses all the bad qualities you can imagine in a human. The tough part was getting into the character of a person who thinks in a way which is very alien to how I think," he said. "But I really enjoyed playing him – getting to be rude, full of myself and have full licence to do it. I was trying to strike a thin balance between being seen as obnoxious and pretending to be obnoxious."
He also showered praise on his co-star, Zaira Wasim. “I know the established actresses in the film industry will be very upset with me but, in my opinion, she is the best actress we have in Hindi cinema today.” Aamir also said that when you work with good actors, it improves your own acting.
Also read- Zaira is the best Indian actress today: Aamir Khan
Aamir talked about how he was still enjoying acting and getting more and more involved in his work. “When I’m playing a character, some of his traits, some of his energy starts coming out of me in an intangible manner.” He recounted an anecdote about how when he was shooting for Ghajini, he would get a different reaction from people than usual. “I don’t want a character to stay with me beyond the shot I’m shooting for, but some of it does leak through, which I’m not aware of.”
He also spoke about the secret superstars in his life, saying his mother has been a huge influence on him and largely shaped his character. He also said he’s most happy that his kids are good human beings, and very sharp and talented.
On being asked about whether he was ever bothered about failing, the star said, “All the time. I’m frightened about the fact that what I’m doing may not work. Every film I pick, I ask myself ‘Is this going to interest everybody?’. I’ll start with Lagaan; we don’t realise this today, but it was breaking all the rules of conventional cinema at that time.”
“Every film I’ve picked is such a challenge that I’m petrified about whether it’ll work. But the good side is that this fear I feel never makes me go off track,” he added.
The actor also shared some everyday tales about his life and his hobbies during the session, talking about what he loved doing the most in his spare time. The audience cracked up listening to the actor regaling them with some of his more amusing anecdotes and listing some his pet peeves, the most prominent being an aversion to loud music.
He also interacted with the audience, answering their questions during an extended session. He was refreshingly honest with the audience, something they appreciated very much.
“I constantly struggle with trying to balance my personal and professional life,” he said in response to one question. “The bulk of my professional life has been an obsessive journey, because of my personality,” the actor, who is known as Mr Perfectionist, added. “When I get into something, I find that things in my personal life get a little soft focus because I’m so deeply involved in what I’m doing until I suddenly get a reminder to balance the two.”
Watch the full session with the Bollywood superstar using the link below.