Producer and director Aamir Khan is India’s most iconic classic actor. He is also Indian cinema’s most successful box office star. These days he is a passionate film producer who is pushing the envelope and redefining what audiences want at the movies.
Here is a verbatim transcript of the exclusive interview with Aamir Khan on CNBC-TV18. Also see the accompanying video.
Q: I have been watching the promos for Peepli Live. The movie is looking exciting. How do you green-light a project like that?
A: It is a most unusual film. Quite honestly I green-light films pretty much the same way. When I read a script or listen to a narration of a complete script, it is my instinctive and emotional response to the material. If it moves and excites me, I get attracted towards it. So, it’s pretty much what I feel at point. I am an audience at that time and how I feel towards it is how I take that decision.
In this case, Anusha Rizvi, who used to be a journalist, wrote to me. It was one of the many e-mails I receive which are offers for films and scripts. I didn’t take it seriously. The reason I noticed her email was because I was doing her film Mangal Pandey: The Rising. She said I have script for you and it’s called The Falling. So, I thought someone was being cheeky with me.
But I remember the name Anusha Rizvi and the word The Falling and repeatedly kept getting emails from her. Much later, when I was shooting for Rang De Basanti in Delhi, I told her to come in and narrate the script to me. If you ask me why I picked her script to listen to, I don’t know.
Q: When she narrated the script, what made you feel we should or can do this?
A: I found it most intriguing and engaging.
Q: It is a satire from what I can make out from the promos?
A: It is a satire. It was a very funny script. It makes you laugh and also its very heart breaking. For someone like me who is from an urban city, I found it very sensitizing. Lot of things that I did not know existed or how things happen in villages. It’s a very realistic portrayal, so the humour is not farcical. The humour is not over the top. It’s very real but it’s funny. I felt a lot of things that she was saying that were really beautiful but a lot of that came out when I asked her questions. So, the only one cue I gave her was what has come out in our discussion needs to come out in the script because as an audience I won’t have the liberty to discus things with you, so all this should come out in the script and I shouldn’t need to ask any questions.
I also asked her to shoot 4-5 scenes to see if she could execute what she had written. I liked the way she did that. So, it was kind of test and I green-lit the film. It is not an easy script to execute. It is very layered and though it is issue based, it is very human.
Q: It is a satire on Indian society today.
A: It is and so each one is seen is as a human being and not as the caricature. On some level, there is caricature as well. But I think her approach is not judgmental and that is what I like about it. Also, it doesn’t tell you what to do. It leaves you with certain things, it sensitizes, and makes you think. As opposed to 3 Idiots which is very much an issue-based film. But 3 Idiots takes a stance, it passes judgement. It says that Chatur is not good, he ratos. Rancho is good. Don’t be like Chatur. Don’t be like Viru Sahastrabudhhe, the Principal. Be like Rancho, Raju and Farhan. So, it takes a judgement and it tells you things in a very bold way.
Q: What is your way?
A: My way in no way. My way is the directors’ way because I work with so many different kinds of directors. I feel that it’s the directors’ voice that should come through.
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