Late 80s -The debut and early years:
Aamir Khan was blessed with a movie lineage, good looks and an inherent acting talent. He could do no wrong, one would think. He had an art house release at the outset of his career, Holi by Ketan Mehta. This was a film to be shown in festivals and garner awards. For the public, his debut was Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. The year was 1988. Amitabh Bachchan’s Angry Young Man spell was waning and Shahrukh had not made an appearance yet. Amir and Juhi looked chocolate box perfect and the movie took the box office by storm.. ‘Papa kehte hain bada naam karega’ became an anthem on the lips of youngsters. The QS cuties were all set to rule the film world. However, Love Love Love and Jawani Zindabad flopped, and the Aamir Juhi pair lost its sheen.
The Roaring 90s - The Romantic Icon :
After several insipid movies came Dil. Dil cast the fresh pair of Madhuri Dixit and Aamir Khan. It is said that this pairing was born out of a public poll put out by the makers of movie. The movie was again a young college romance. The songs were a rage and the movie was again a superhit. Girls flipped over the cute Aamir Khan, and he was the teenage heartthrob. Then came Mahesh Bhatt with Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahi with another cute couple, Amir and Pooja Bedi. Bingo ! Cash registers rang, the songs ruled the charts. Amir was firmly entrenched in the hearts of the viewers, especially the younger ones..
There was spell of barren films that flopped at the box office with Amir’s cute quotient clearly not helping out. Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander, did not do well at the box office, but it remains one of the best college/ coming of age movies ever. It is a cult classic now, and deservedly so. Raj Kumar Santoshi’s Andaz Apna Apna, cast Amir with Karishma Kapoor, Salman and Raveena Tandon. It was a hilarious comedy that is now (like JJWH) a cult classic though it did nothing at the box office.
Mahesh Bhatt came up with a winner, Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke, casting Juhi and Amir once again in this romantic comedy. Amir was required to play a serious gruff character who is eventually won over by his nephews and nieces and their nanny- Juhi. The movie and the music was a hit.
Post HHRPK, Amir hit a lean patch. The 1995 movie Andaz Apna Apna flopped and so did the romantic Akele Hum Akele Tum. Atank Hi Atank and Baazi sank too. It was mid 90s and ‘Was the magic of the cherubic faced Amir fading?’ Asked his fans.
Late 90s – The actor awakens:
1995 brought a short-lived combination of Ram Gopal Verma and Amir Khan, short but memorable. It brought us Rangeela. Rangeela had designer dresses, a worked out Urmila in a jazzy avatar and Munna. Amir Khan played Munna with elan and made tapori look cool. People woke up to the fact that this cute faced hero could act too. Rangeela changed the face of Indian Cinema with it attitude. Suddenly all heroines started getting makeover and losing flab and actors were not afraid of coming out of their comfort zones and doing something different. In Raja Hindustani, another huge hit by Dharmesh Darshan, Amir played Raja the taxidriver with style.
If this was not enough, came Ghulam by Vikram Bhatt. It brought us Rani Mukherjee with Amir. It had Amir in sometime tough, sometime sweet role of Sidharth who gets caught in a web of the Mumbai mafia. This time the tapori was in a serious mess and Amir did justice to his role. There was no doubt now, Amir was one of best actors that Indian cinema ever had. Again, the movie was a huge hit with a new genre of song – the tapori rap – ‘E kya bolti tu’. The girls of the nation were all set to go to Khandala with Amir.
Deepa Mehta’s Earth had Amir in a negetive role of the Ice-candy Man obsessed with the nanny Nandita Das. Next was John Mathew Mathan’s Sarfarosh where he played a dedicated police officer bent upon stopping cross border terrorism. The movie was action packed and again brought us a new face of Amir. Earth was more for and elite audience, but Sarfarosh was liked by masses and the classes.
It was followed by the dud Mann, which was an attempt by Amir to go back to the romantic image. Even the rumour that it was based on Titanic, did nothing for the movie.
The year 2K – Better and Better:
Dharmesh Darshan’s Mela brought the brothers, Faisal and Amir together with Twinkle in this huge dud. The movie was ambitious, but sank like the Titanic.
But 2001 had the pathbreaking Lagaan in the offing. This movie by Ashutosh Gowrikar smashed the box office and won critical accolades too. It was held up as an example of team spirit in MBA classes. The best of all, it won a nomination for the Best Foreign Language Film in the Academy Awards. Amir’s association with any film (barring a few glaring lacks) was usually taken as a guarantee of good quality.
Farhan Akhtar’s Dil Chahta Hai brought us Amir in a new avataar. A rich spoilt young man who is totally self indulgent. The movie showed male bonding like never before and after having tasted huge commercial success, is now a cult classic. For an actor like Amir, who could have the best of scripts, budgets and directors for the asking, to come down and work for an unproven newcomer like Farhan Akhtar and with unproven co-actors like Saif and Akshaye was almost like a risk. But it was a risk that paid off and Amir had a feather in cap that he could be proud of forever.
Ketan Mehta’s Mangal Pandey was awaited with a lot of expectations, but critically it did not match up. The movie ran into myriad controversies about its origin and treatment and history books were brought out by the intelligentsia to prove/disprove various theories. The movie bruised Amir’s reputation as a perfectionist.
Rakeysh Mehra’s Rang De Basanti was another iffy venture. A tale of a bunch of no-good aimless university hangers on, who decide to make a film on the martyrs of the Indian Independence movement almost as a lark. But the making of the movie changes them forever. It brings out their hidden angst that they had been masking with laughter and games. The movie met with a very unlikely success. It actually inspired the young people to seek justice through candlelight marches. The tagline of the movie ‘A generation awakens’ became quite true. And the man who led this march was Amir with a faultless, inspired act as DJ, the good-at-heart but wayward son of Dhaba owners.
Kunal Kohli’s Fanaa followed on the heels of RDB. The movie was a hit, and the songs were very melodious. Amir played a Kashmiri terrorist here. He was teemed for the first time with Kajol and the combination was termed ‘superb’. The movie ran into political rough weather in Gujarat but that did not undermine its success.
GOSSSSSIP:
Amir married his childhood Reena Dutta secretly at a very early age. However the revelation of his marriage did not harm his popularity. Despite that, he was rumored to have carried on with some of his heroines. During the making of Dil Hai ke Maanta nahin, he was supposed to have had a torrid affair with Pooja Bhatt. He is also rumored to have had a child named Jaan with Jessica Hines. Both the parties deny this charge vehemently. He later divorced Reena to marry Kiran Rao. Now even this marriage is supposed to be on the rocks.
He is also rumored to create a lot of trouble on set by interfering with the work. He had a huge tiff with Ram Gopal Verma during the making of Rangeela, and RGV is supposed to have vowed not to work with Amir again.
His current home production Taare Zameen Par has faced similar problems. His director left and so did many of the technicians. Now he is handling the direction himself.