Aamir Khan recalls eight years of poverty; family had no income, creditors were at the door: ‘People think producers have a lot of money'

Indian Express

03-06-2025

Aamir Khan may be a 'perfectionist' now, but his inclination towards control stems from his childhood. On a new podcast, the actor-producer talked about how, despite coming from a film family, he didn't benefit from nepotism. Aamir recalled how his family had a financially strenuous time when he was a kid. 'There were a lot of financial problems at home. Usually, people think film producers have a lot of money. There's no truth to that. Most producers struggle a lot to make ends meet. There was a film of Abba jaan (father), Locket, which took eight years to make. There were problems with the actors' dates so the film, which was supposed to finish in one or one and a half years, stretched to eight years,' said Aamir.
On Raj Shamani's YouTube channel, he continued, 'There was no income at home for eight years. Because Abba jaan had taken a loan, and the interest was top-level at 36%, there was a very long rough patch in the middle.' He explained how his late father Tahir Hussain would be stuck in a vicious cycle because lenders would keep calling him for recovery while no other lender would loan him more money to finish the pending shoot.
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'I used to play competitive tennis then. Since I knew there's stress at home, I'd keep whatever prize money I won with my Ammi (mother) and tell her if she wants to buy any of my stuff, like shoes or clothes, she should buy from that money. When I'm saying all this, I'm realising I became responsible from a very young age,' added Aamir.
Aamir's father Tahir Hussain produced films like the 1971 crime thriller Caravan, Raghunath Jhalani's 1973 romantic thriller Anamika, and Mahesh Bhatt's 1993 romantic comedy Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke, starring Aamir. He turned director with another Aamir-starrer, the fantasy revenge drama Tum Mere Ho, in 1990. He died of a heart attack in 2010.
Aamir revealed despite the deep debt, his father was a strong and determined figure, qualities that he has inherited from him. 'He was a man of his word. He used to tell actors he doesn't have money to pay them, but he would as soon as the film releases. I remember Dutt sahab (late Sunil Dutt) told me when my father made Zakhmee (1975), he was afraid he wouldn't get his fees, but when the film released and worked, he got his money. So he used to stick to his commitments,' added Aamir.
Another quality he learnt from Tahir was condensing the story of a film to one line. 'If you can't narrate your film in one line, it won't be a hit. When I was little, I'd think one narrates a film in three hours, so how could one bring it down to one line! I thought Abba jaan was being unreasonable. Later, when I grew up and learnt a bit about filmmaking, I realised what he meant,' said Aamir.
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'What's your premise? What are you trying to say? Mhari chhori chhoron se kum ke hai ke — this is the one-line story of Dangal. If you can't narrate your film in one line, then your story is confused,' he explained further. Aamir's 2016 sports drama Dangal, directed by Nitesh Tiwari, remains the highest-grossing Indian film at the global box office.