Actor Aamir Khan‘s journey as a Bollywood producer began in 2001, but he initially intended to avoid this path because of his father, Tahir Hussain. He was strongly averse to the idea of producing due to the immense risks and challenges involved.
Aamir reveals why he never wanted to be a producer
Aamir recently joined trade expert Komal Nahta on his Game Changers podcast: The Producer Series, where he shared his reservations about becoming a producer. He came to this decision after witnessing his father’s struggles in the profession.
Aamir said, “Mujhe lagta hai jab maine apne father ka career dekha first-hand jab main chhota tha, toh mujhe realise hua mujhe producer kabhi nahi banna hai. Kyunki sabse zyada mehnat aapki hoti hai, risk aap le rhe ho, paise aap laga rhe ho, aur sirf aap gaaliyaan kha rhe ho (I think when I saw my father’s career firsthand when I was young, I realised I never wanted to be a producer. Because you put in the most effort, take all the risks, invest your own money, and end up taking all the flak). Often, your team doesn’t cooperate with you, and my father’s film Locket took 8 years to make. Seeing all this, I thought, “I have become an actor, my career has taken off, Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak is a hit, why do I need to be a producer?’.”
The Dangal actor revealed that in his early career, during initial interviews, he had flatly refused the idea of becoming a producer. Aamir shared, “If you read my early interviews, people would ask me if I would ever produce, and I’d say never. I’d do anything else, definitely direct, I’m already acting, but would never produce. These were my categorical statements, you should never make such categorical statements.”
Aamir turned a producer with his 2001 film Lagaan, following which he went on to back projects such as Taare Zameen Par, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, Peepli (Live), Dhobi Ghat, Delhi Belly, Dangal and Laal Singh Chaddha.
Aamir’s recent projects
Most recently, Aamir was seen in Sitaare Zameen Par, which followed the life of Gulshan Arora (played by Aamir), a basketball coach who is assigned to train a team of adults with intellectual disabilities. Directed by RS Prasanna, the film was an official Hindi adaptation of the acclaimed Spanish film Campeones. The film was a box office success, grossing ₹263.42 crore globally.
Apart from that, Aamir had a special appearance in Rajinikanth-starrer Coolie, written and directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj. Next, he will be seen in a cameo in Aryan Khan’s directorial debut, Ba***ds of Bollywood, which is set to release on Netflix on September 18.
