An Ageless Character

Very recently, I have been surrounded by words of appreciations for Aamir Khan from all parts, be it newspaper, magazine, critics, friends and my parents. His movie, 3 Idiots has broken all time records of Hindi Cinema. Everybody is applauding his character of a 20 year old boy. I always love his performance, but when asked about my favorite actor, I always choose Shahrukh Khan. But at this moment, I couldn’t restrict myself from writing about the all-age actor, Aamir Khan.
I hardly remember earlier movies of Aamir Khan. He was just another actor for me before Lagaan. I do remember some of his movies, which I liked the most. Sarfarosh, Ghulam, Ishq to name a few. But in current Bollywood, he is a raging moolah. His past six out of eight films were runaway hits, some of them even breaking records becoming the highest grosser. And most of the time, Aamir Khan’s movie is breaking the record of another Aamir Khan’s movie. What makes him the Midas touch of films?
I was watching a tata sky advertisement of Aamir Khan, in which he is the husband of Gul Panag and introducing us with the advantages of Tata Sky Plus. Then I remembered a few more advertisements by the same actor but in totally different and unrecognizable getups.
1. An gray beard Sardar, fed up with Tata Sky.
2. Husbandfrom one part and Wife from the other part, introducing Tata Sky.
3. A Nepali offering a couple with Coca-Cola.
4. A whole family, with each member played by Aamir Khan, in a Coca-Cola advertisement.
These are some of my memorable ads of Aamir Khan. Maybe, there are some more, but the above four really left a mark in my memory. All these advertisement are different from one another. And what fits Aamir in all of them is his meticulous effort in each one of them. He makes the character so real that it is hard to believe that you are actually watching Aamir Khan in the role of a sardar or a middle-aged auntiji.
What really attracted me about Aamir Khan is the huge age differences between him and his roles and the diversity in each of them. If we take a look at some of his last fewblockbuster movies.
1. 3 Idiots – A 18-20 year old student studying Engineering.
2. Ghajini – An amnesia patient in search of his lover’s murderer.
3. Taare Zameen Par - A teacher and also, the director of the film.
4. Fanaa – A terrorist
5. Rang De Basanti - A 25 year old spoilt lad but immense guts.
6. Mangal Pandey – Historical figure
7. Dil Chahta Hai – An aimless young guy (perhaps my all time favorite)
8. Lagaan – A villager in pre-independence time.
Lately, he has chose all different and diverse roles, and in none of them, age is being a factor for him. Whether it’s DJ, who doesn’t care about his country but can die for his friends, or an amnesia patient with a physique difficult to achieve in the age of 43 when your metabolic rate has slowed down. And the most important and the latest one, a boy full of chirpiness and gaiety, Rancho, played by an actor more than twice than the age of the character. Not even once, I felt that Aamir has grown old to fit in such kind of roles. I was watching Rancho and his naughty innocent expressions found in every college boy.
I am not trying to epitomize Aamir Khan, what I am merely trying to imply is that Aamir is god-gifted. His acting has really broken all barriers of age, and has shifted the focus on square one, perfect acting.
I never think that I will ever say Aamir Khan is my favorite actor, since I am used to write ShahRukh Khan’s name in every slambook I fill, but I would always remember that the actor with great abilities will always amuse people worldwide with just pure acting, may be every year till earth lives.