Aamir Khan interview: No troll can stop a good film

The Hindu

3 days ago

Aamir Khan is finishing a run of interviews at his Santa Cruz office in Mumbai. He looks as animated as some of his characters. 'I'm going down?' he queries his associates, shuffling into an elevator. 'I'm coming up again? Um-hum.' Khan is 60, looks no more than 48, and is itchy with excitement for his newest release. This is not the man I encountered seven years ago, during the release of Thugs of Hindostan, clammy with unspoken nervousness about a shaky product. Or the man who disappeared behind a beard to play Tom Hanks, loudly and disappointingly, in Laal Singh Chaddha.
In interviews and podcasts, Khan has been open about the failure of these two films. His latest, Sitaare Zameen Par, finds him on a surer footing. Like a merry highlights reel, the trailer combines the best elements of Khan's filmography: sports, humour, team assembly, social uplift. Directed by R.S. Prasanna, the film is a remake of the Spanish drama Champions. It follows a mouthy, knuckleheaded basketball coach put in charge of a team of players with intellectual disabilities.
'This film entered my bloodstream,' Khan says. Here, he speaks about working with his co-stars, the miasma of trolling and negativity that befogs his recent releases, and his hopes for the theatrical business in India.
You had hinted at a break after 'Laal Singh Chaddha'. Yet, here you are with 'Sitaare Zameen Par', a film two years in development…
Aamir Khan: When a film or an idea inspires me, I just have to make it. My director, R.S. Prasanna, brought the Spanish film Champions (2018) to me. When I saw it, I was extremely moved by it. It left a deep impact on me. I also felt it was the ideal sequel to Taare Zameen Par. In that film, it's the teacher, Nikumbh, a supposedly neuro-typical person, who helps the child with dyslexia. In this film, ten neuro-atypical people are helping the coach, Gulshan. I feel Sitare takes the discourse of the first film ten steps ahead, especially in our country where people need to be sensitised to the topic of neurodivergence.
Like 'Laal Singh', this film has also been subjected to online trolling. Are you nervous about the release?
AK: I don't think trolling affects the box-office performance of a film. Not at all. When a film is good, no troll in the world can stop it. And if a film is bad, no producer in the world can make it work. You may assume that Laal Singh Chaddha did not work because of the trolling. That's not true. If, in place of that film, 3 Idiots or Dangal had released, and was trolled just as viciously, it would have still become a superhit. Laal Singh Chaddha did not turn out well as a film. It could not touch the audience's heart. That's why it failed.
...when I read comments on YouTube, I am always interested in what the real audience is saying. If someone is writing, 'boycott!' or 'go to Pakistan', I can instantly tell they are trolls. Their reactions don't affect me.
Much like your character, Gulshan, what did you learn from your ten co-stars?
AK: They are all between the age of 18-42. The oldest is Rishi Shahani, who won the gold and silver medals in swimming for India at the Special Olympics World Games in 1999. What I learned from them is the importance of being happy. If a person has a high IQ of 195, but they are always anxious and grouchy, what is the point? I have worked with neuro-typical people for the last 35 years. Usually, on a film set, there are ego clashes and tussles. That never happened on Sitare. When these ten people were on set, the whole energy brightened. They were always smiling, hugging and spreading good cheer. Their presence was so pure and innocent that no one raised their voice.
What is the streaming plan for 'Sitare Zameen Par'? You spoke out recently on short theatrical windows affecting the business adversely.
AK: I have received multiple offers and proposals and I have said no to all of them. I am a believer in cinema and the theatrical experience. Whatever I am today, it is because of cinemas. I am a loyalist of that format. Perhaps I am making a mistake by not selling the OTT rights upfront, as most Hindi film producers today are doing. In today's age, unless a film has sold to streaming, it cannot be green-lit. I am the only person who is holding out. Perhaps I will incur a huge financial loss as a result. But we'll see. My mission, at present, is to revive the theatrical business in India, which has been on a steady decline.
Exhibitors, especially multiplex owners, point to high real estate costs to justify steep pricing. How do you resolve this?
AK: I am actively working towards creating policies and coming up with ideas that can create theatres which are economical. Where ticket pricing can be moderated. In India, we have 9,000-10,000 screens for a population of 1.4 billion. By contrast, China has 90,000-95,000 screens while the US has 35,000 screens. There are so many districts in India that do not have a single theatre. In a city like Mumbai or New Delhi, the price of land is very high, so theatres have to pay huge rents. You cannot blame them. But what about the rest of the country? So we need to build more economical theatres across the country.
You are doing an action film with Lokesh Kanagaraj. But it won't start until next year. Why not strike a trend while it's hot?
AK: Yaar, I am not able to think like that. When I decided to do Sitaare Zameen Par, the people who are close to me told me not to do another remake after Laal Singh Chaddha. Everyone advised me to do an action film instead. It's the flavour of the season. But I wanted to tell this story. It's a humorous film with drama at its centre, like a Rajkumar Hirani movie.
Interestingly, when I did Ghajini, in 2008, the opposite had happened. I was told that action films hadn't worked for the last five years. That it was the wrong time to make action. So my films have always released at odd times, because I don't follow the industry's metrics. I follow my heart. And I have complete faith in my audience. If I have made a good film, they will come and watch.
Sitaare Zameen Par releases in theatres on June 20