Aamir "The perfectionist" Khan is one of the most astute businessman more than anything else. The way he plays with media, how news channels and reporters love to eat from his palm is apparent from the fact that Aamir having fever has become a news item May be its his PR, or may be just the fact that media needed someone who gives them what they want, that is, gossip.
From QSQT times, Aamir has always been one of the biggest names in the film industry, though he was plagued with a huge number of flops after QSQT, so many that he was termed as new Kumar Gaurav, or shorter Kumar Gaurav, but somehow his looks, his chocolate boy image, always had him favorite among youngsters. And then there were hits like Raja Hindustani, Dil hai ki... Hum hai rahi.. which kept Aamir in thick of things. Everything changed for him with Lagaan, well, not exactly Lagaan, since even Lagaan not exactly put box office on fire, it was actually the Oscar nomination, I think, which changed everything from him. Aamir was suddenly the prestige actor, and his movies were as close to perfect as anyone can get, according to media. Suddenly chocolate boy changed to Mr Perfectionist, and finally, 10 years or so after Lagaan, Mr perfectionist has become Ace Khan. But then here are some scenes of Ace Khan's movies
Raja Hindustani:
Mela
Ghajini:
3Idiots: Watch when Aamir is dragged by Boman Irani to the class, his mannerisms are of a mentally challenged guy or probably an 8 year old, not a 17-18 year old guy who is so confident about his talent. Ending scene, or the one where he goes to Kareena's place being drunk. Though by no means he was the worst part about 3I, that cake should go to Madhvan, but even by poor standards of acting in 3I, Aamir was pretty bad, so bad that even Kareena acted better than him.
n the basis of my understanding, I think Aamir khan is more of a great businessman, who has an acute sense of what will work with people, he is a competent enough actor as well, may be, but hardly an actor I will describe as good. From Mela to 3I, Fanaa, he is same OTT actor, Ghajini he seems like a guy who is more on steroid rage than any kinda revenge, His histrionics in RDB again shows him going over board so many times.
I am a big fan of his movies, spl the recent ones, TZP, 3I, RDB and all, but I do not see him as an actor who give flawless performance, he is an actor with very limited skills, for whom anger and comedy means shouting and being serious means shedding a tear or two, whether talking about children in TZP or talking to friends in 3I.
But hats off to aamir for handling the media so well who is ready to do anything for him, and in turn even Aamir does a lot for media. Remember the Ghajini time? When media needed some spicy columns and air time to fill, Aamir was more than eager to give his comments on everyone, from SRK to Christopher Nolan to even the movie he was copying, Memento, which in his own words was not really enjoyable. Aamir also doesn't shy away from taking a cause during the time of release, again a strategy I guess aimed more at media and public perception rather than any good for community. Like his association for Narmada andolan right at the time of Fanaa, education during 3I and TZP, and so many other things.
Anyhow, Aamir deserves all the success he is getting more because he is the best player out there, who has understood the game lot better than anyone ever has. And just for the record Aamir has been advised bed rest because of fever and body ache, source
I think post RDB, as one poster in some other forum said, Aamir has definitely fallen a few notches, Fanaa, Ghajini being ample proof of that.
ReplyDeleteThe steroid crazy aamir jumping on the police inspector was more of comedy and parody than action
Again a scene from Rang De Basanti
ReplyDeleteClick to see
Notice the ease of Sharman and compare with Aamir who is trying to force comedy
Interesting analysis. I have found Aamir's acting enjoyable in the slapstick mode in AAA, and I thought he acted well in JJWS, Sarfarosh and 1947 Earth. Earth remains my all time favorite Aamir film and performance. I sort of agree that in his most acclaimed films (barring Sarfarosh) we have not seen the best performances from Aamir. But he is astute and now I think we can safely say that he knows what sells. He is selling a carefully cultivated image of an intellectual, socially aware and intelligent actor and film-makes!
ReplyDeleteedit- film-maker*
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteRace is good and Ghajini.. ;)
ReplyDeleteI am not a good judge of acting. You probably are right when you allude that he is limited actor. But I can tell about movies. I think Ghajini was good in its Screenplay. Nothing spectacular but it was for its genre[You may dislike the genre. But then you don't have any right to like Wanted if you are not Sallu fan]. If Ghajini is bad then I guess I can safely say 95% of movies are bad! Raja Hindustani and Fanna were cliched movies that is why they find mention. Haven't seen Mela to comment.
Media Manipulation - He learned that during TZP. Before that he was at opposite end of media and constantly berated them for being partial (implicit reference to SRK)[During MP days he said media is spreading false stories]. But I guess he saw it is better to bed the enemy than fight them.
ps - Small box to comment. Same opinion posted twice :)
"He is selling a carefully cultivated image of an intellectual, socially aware and intelligent actor and film-makes!"
ReplyDeleteAgreed. But I think he is losing some of the brand (that he is different) with ubiquitous presence in media [People who supported him in 90s].
I do not think so KB. It takes several years of media over-exposure for the shine to diminish.
ReplyDeleteJust saw this!
ReplyDeleteLINK
When SRK wore a sequined tie to the Golden Globes he got so much flak, Aamir is now in full shiny jacket mode! This is what realizing you are a larger than life star does to a man. In a way his stardom is well deserved, because what is it but huge success of films and a large fan-base?
hahaha KB, TBH yes, I liked Race better than Ghajini, there can be a number of reasons for that:
ReplyDelete1) As you said, genre,I can enjoy action movies, big fan I am. Spl Jackie Chan, Khiladi series of Akshay Kumar, Nick of time etc, but then I didn't like Wanted as well. There is something very stupid in this genre, may be idea of one man beating the crap out of an army doesn't make much of a sense to me, but yes, I rooted for Gadar. And then that could be for nationalism kinda thing, may be.
2) It could be because say, when you see Australian team on cricket pitch, you expect some quality from them, and when they fail to reach those expectations, you feel disappointed. Aamir also invokes one to have certain expectations and I guess they were never met with Ghajini.
3) I am biased against Aamir, which I might actually be.
4) It might be a bad movie as well.
Anyhow, I thought that he overacted quite a lot, media while going bokers over his 8 packs never really cared for the expressions he was giving. Just my take.
Also, I think him opening up to media has suddenly made everything easier to him. And I do not think he lost any fans of 90s, if anything they should be happy that they get more access to Aamir now.
Now he is on TV and a very concerned voice in the background is telling me that he is having very high fever, so much so that he couldn't attend premiere of his movie.
Again nothing wrong in opening to media, or making them friends rather than enemies, but I just am questioning the tag of Mr. Perfectionist when I see pretty bad acting even in movies like 3I and Ghajini which are supposed to be the movies he earned the tag of being the best actor.
What I agree with is that he is probably the smartest one out there, but even in the category of star actors, I do not see him as good as he is made out to be. Much like Brangelina, Aamir is also a media creation to me.
I don't know how the India media or even the actor's fans can be so corrupt as to give the tag of "intelligent" "thinking" actor and so on to a guy who appears in blatantly ripped off products like Ghajini. These kind of movies are an embarrassment to the industry as a whole, more more than a silly Akshay comedy will ever be.
ReplyDeleteOne one hand, you want to stand on a global platform and try to take other movies to film festivals and on the other hand, you steal the work of other people. It's a blot on the whole industry and it def. does NOT help replace the attitude people have towards Indian films.
Didn't Anil Kapoor say recently he spoke to Christopher Nolan who was displeased that his Memento was copied and bastardized? What you did in the 90s when you had choice (where again he appeared in probably the most "remakes") is a completely different thing NOW when you have the ability to no longer be part of such things.
*when you had no choice
ReplyDeleteAs for his acting talent, he is doing exactly the same acting and even the same roles he did when he started- the college kid running around popping his eyes out like saucers. Even someone considered a non-actor like Aishwarya has shown growth from what she used to once do and you can see the maturity increasing in the performances.
Aamir began as a serviceable actor and has remained a serviceable actor. Nothing amazing yet not too horrible either (if you leave out the ape jumping and grunting and whatever his Ghajini act was supposed to be). Average at best.
Aamir Khan is the next SRK,:)
ReplyDeleteDoga - You need to provide us with statistical data on acting capabilities of our stars :).
ReplyDeleteNia, I don't think that you can blame ripping of movies to Aamir, that is done by almost everyone. SRK, Amitabh, Aamir, everyone.
ReplyDeleteTBH in his own production house, Aamir has been really smart to know what to produce, and has kept it pretty clean.
Though I guess JTYJN was a rip off of Ritesh Deshmukh's first movie, Tujhe Meri Kassam
and this problem of plagerism should be dealt with strictly but Indian courts have no urgency to solve anything.
Everyone has appeared in ripoffs but I think there is a difference between doing it when you're 25 and don't know better and need the work, and 45 when you now have the ability to do whatever you wish. Especially if you're bleating everywhere how you're such an intelligent, thinking actor and making an image of how you are taking Indian films ahead.
ReplyDeleteHow can "fans" make fun of Akshay or someone for degrading cinema but puff their chests with pride regarding ripped off junk like Ghajini?
What was he supposed to say to Murgadoss? And working in rip offs at the age of 25 or 45 should be the same.
ReplyDeleteand how would an actor know if the rights have been bought or not? May be Aamir didn't know, or may be he was convinced that it deviates from the original version, which it does, in a way.
How can you blame an actor for working in a rip off? Blame should lay solely to the producers and directors and script writers
Of course an actor should be held responsible too, especially if the source material was such a popular movie like Memento. Aamir even talked about how he watched it and "didn't understand it." Typical Aamir to not acknowledge other people's work with any positive comment.
ReplyDeleteI can understand if an actor appeared in a copy of some obscure film. It's possible they didn't know. I think there is a major hypocrisy at play when you happily appear in HW copies and on the other hand constantly bang on about what a thinking actor you are and your PR spreads news daily about how you are taking Indian cinema forward. Hypocrisy with the fans that worship him also. :P
how could Aamir know that Murgadoss didn't have rights of Memento?
ReplyDeleteAlso I think IP right wise, he didn't actually copy Memnto since most of the story was changed, and even that tattooo thing, it didn't have any use in the movie. They could have done without that as well.
Also, if that is copy, then what you call movies which are a mish mash of too many movies to even count? Like CDI
and how can actor be held responsible for somehting which is clearly a producer's fault, not acquiring the rights, and why Aamir is not allowed to "not like Memento"?
ReplyDeleteYou are saying Aamir could not have just inquired about whether the rights were bought? LOL! The primary reason is there is no respect for other people's work which is why credit is not given where it's due. (Let's see, he's faced this repetitively recently, not just with Ghajini but also TZP and 3 Idiots) That's evident even from his comment about Memento and not understanding it but apparently being completely fine with ripping off the main concepts.
ReplyDeleteAnd CDI is not a mishmash of anything. It's in the genre of sports movies in which the underdog always wins. Same as how in romances, the couple either gets together or dies. Doesn't mean they're copying each other.
I don't think actors get into that nitty gritty, if you have bought the rights and all, nor they should. With TZP he credited the story to Amol, but took over direction after 3 days because he was not feeling comfortable. 3I, ok there he was wrong to get into the mess, but I guess even CB was not clean, he said that he signed the papers, and he saw everything, may be later on he became little greedy and wanted something more from it.
ReplyDeleteAnd there were enough scenes in CDI as wel which could have been labelled as lift offs, most particular was scene from Miracle, SRK's speech.
Again, actors can not be held accountable for these things, its the script writer's fault.